


And Us Their Men

by zzegnas



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Food Poisoning, Implied Relationships, M/M, References to Shakespeare, Vandalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 10:34:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1466194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzegnas/pseuds/zzegnas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The school's production of 'Romeo and Juliet' is underway, but not until Ben finds his perfect Romeo.  Harry, a Shakespeare enthusiast, is asked to audition for the part, and Niall, a stagehand watching in the balconies, inadvertently becomes his Juliet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Us Their Men

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bisousniall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisousniall/gifts).



> Inspired by twitter conversations with K8ie and [these photos](http://onedirectionpictures.net/thumbnails.php?album=1397) of the boys waving from the balcony of their hotel room.
> 
>  **Sidenote:** Americanized story, as usual; there isn't a lot of Shakespearean dialogue, but the little bits and bobs that do appear are italicized.
> 
> I should probably note that the title is from Act 1, Scene 1 of [the play](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html): "The quarrel is between our masters and us their men."
> 
> (All remaining mistakes and preposterous depictions of theatre life are on me.)

The pride and joy of Niall’s school is showcased in the middle of the courtyard; a water fountain lined with smooth bricks and orange pebbles, topped with a bronzed owl in flight.  Every day at 11:15 AM, Niall walks past the glorious fountain after his Film Appreciation class, usually greeting his fellow classmates that pass by.  They’re people he’s known since his freshman year, and Niall has no trouble remembering names and faces.

But there is one person who’s never been his classmate.

He’s tall, he keeps to himself, and his face is usually buried in the pages of an old book—sometimes Shakespeare, other times Charles Dickens or even F. Scott Fitzgerald.  There's also his wild, but slicked back hair, making him look taller than he already is.  Despite outward appearances, Niall’s never even thought of asking for his name.

It was nearly a semester ago when it started, right at the corner of the Fine Arts building when Niall first bumped into him.  Niall gave the taller boy with the spotty face and scuffed suede boots a nod and smile, and somehow managed to do it every time they passed each other since then.  Sometimes he had a friend with him, another young man with a shaven head, usually seen with a large duffel bag hanging from his shoulder.  But even with the unexpected company, the nods and smiles were only ever for Niall’s kind-of sort-of friend.

“Niall, wait up!” someone shouts from the fountain.  He immediately stops, recognizing the voice coming his best friend, Louis.

Niall adjusts his snapback before the two friends give each other a high five, putting their arms around each other’s shoulders as they head down to the auditorium to their theatre class.  They’re stagehands for Ben, the school’s drama teacher, doing everything from changing light bulbs to setting up rigs or even a coffee run for Ben’s irritating assistant directors.

As the two friends are walking, Niall is counting down the seconds of when he’ll see his wild-haired friend.  Turning the corner, he’s surprised to see him not by the Fine Arts building, but standing next to the staircase leading to the auditorium.  Niall eyes his friend up and down, making note of the little wisps of hair flopping around while he looked at his phone.

Niall stops to scratch the back of his leg, and deliberately clears his throat when he stands back up.  His friend pushes himself off the wall, shyly smiling when Niall nods at him.

“New location, huh?” Niall clicks his teeth, then laughs when he hears his friend say, “Okay.”

“Do you know that guy?” Louis asks, confused.  Niall stutters, forgetting he’s never told Louis about him.  “We better get a move on, Ben’s going to flip if we’re late.”

The two hightail it up the stairs, greeting their friend Zayn waiting for them at the doors.  Zayn and Louis head inside with Niall trailing behind, doing a double take when he spots a familiar hairdo not too far away.

—

There’s a line of boys standing in the lobby, all holding crumpled pieces of paper in their hands.  Auditions for the school’s annual Shakespeare Festival have been taking place, and this year, the Dramatic Arts program have chosen ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as the last show of the semester.

Ben has been auditioning nearly every student for the part of Romeo, looking for a fresh face in the last two weeks to play the tragic protagonist.  Ben’s come up empty since that time, and at this point, everyone in the class is sure he’ll have some sort of meltdown if he doesn’t find his lead actor by the end of the day.

Niall, Louis, and Zayn make their way to the highest balcony to watch the auditions, settling in as the assistant directors herd the first group of boys to the side of the stage, and Ben calling each of their names on his megaphone to act out a scene with him.  Niall is concerned when he notices Zayn shifting around in his seat, telling him about a student he’d recruited just an hour before.

“Man, I hope he shows up.  He looked kinda freaked out even though I tried not to sound like a creep.”  Zayn looks at his digital watch of The Power Rangers, pressing its random buttons to keep himself occupied.

“You didn’t tell him to give you his lunch money, did you?” Louis jokingly asks, and Zayn pushes him away, laughing.

A crescendo of groans escalates through the auditorium, leaving Louis to excitedly ask what’s happened.  “Balcony scene” is all Niall has to say for Louis to smack his hand into his face.  Almost every person that’s tried out have chosen that scene to read, so much that Ben’s about to pull his hair out from frustration, only to reluctantly let a student named Andy go through with it anyway.

“Hey, so who’s the guy you asked to try out?” Niall asks as soon as Andy begins the scene.

“My classmate, Harry,” Zayn replies.  “He sits next to me in English class and he doesn’t talk that much, but he’s cool.”

“Zayn, you can’t just ask random people who sit next to you to be in a play,” Louis blankly remarks.  “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course not, Lou.  He acted a scene from ‘The Tempest’ in English class today and it turns out he’s a total Shakespeare nerd!” Zayn says in excitement.  “Oh man, you should have been there, he was good enough to get a standing ovation!  As soon as class was done I managed to convince him to try out, but like I said, he seemed skeptical.”

“Does he look the part?”  Niall leans over the balcony and folds his arms on the landing, staring blankly at Andy's cringeworthy delivery of Shakespeare’s text.  Niall can’t even count how many times he’s had to watch various scenes of the play since auditions have started, so much that he’s memorized almost all of the lines.  Hell, he’d try out if he wasn't riddled with stage fright.

“Well, he, um–that’s not really important.”  Zayn clears his throat, nervously scratching the back of his head.  “But he’s really tall.  His hair makes him taller.”

Niall raises a brow.  There’s only one person whose hair can do that.

“My hair makes my voice go deeper, you gonna recruit me, too?” Louis mockingly asks.

“Shut up,” Zayn glares at Louis.  “It won’t matter when we’re in costume, anyway.  I’m just hoping what I saw in class is just as good in front of Ben.  I personally think he’s got potential to be the lead if things go my way.  And you guys better stay here to watch him!  Your minds will be absolutely blown, I’m telling you right now.”

The entrance to the auditorium opens, a silhouette in the doorway blocking the rays of the afternoon sun.  All three boys lean over, and Zayn stands to attention at the murmur of a deep voice.  “That’s him!  Hey, Harry!” he shouts, waving his hands to get Harry’s attention.  “Stay right there!”

Zayn exchanges goodbyes with his friends, leaving Niall and Louis alone.  The spotlight on the balcony just above the stage burns out, a cause for Andy's terrible audition to be cut short to everyone’s delight.

Ben frantically looks towards the balconies and shrieks Niall and Louis' names in their direction, making them jump out of their seats.  “Fix this light, please, I am not done today!”  Niall sighs and holds up both of his hands, signaling that he needs ten minutes.  He might even suggest Ben take a year long vacation after this.

—

Approximately seven minutes later, Niall’s replaced the spotlight with a fresh bulb by himself, annoyed that Louis ditched him to buy snacks from the student store.  Niall gives Ben the okay to continue, whose assistant directors get through the last batch students quicker than they can finish their scenes.

While Niall’s packing up the burnt out bulb to throw away, he manages to overhear Zayn giving someone a pep talk—most likely to his new protege, Harry.

“All you have to do is recite a few lines the way you did when we were in class, it’s not that different.”

“Except this isn’t for a grade, Zayn,” Harry replies, his deep voice catching Niall’s ear.  “I’ve never done this kind of thing before, not with drama students.  Your judgement’s a lot harsher than everyone else.”

“Forget them!  You won’t even see the audience, not with all these lights on you, anyway,” Zayn replies assuringly.  “Just keep your focus on Ben and no one else.  I know you can do this, Harry.  It’s worth a shot.”

Ben’s megaphone squeaks with intermittent feedback when he turns it on, asking Harry to take the stage.  Niall takes a seat on the balcony’s edge and Louis comes back with an open bag of Doritos, tossing a packet of sour gummy worms at him.

“Jesus, is that him?” Louis asks in disbelief.  “No wonder Zayn didn’t want to answer your question.”

Niall looks over to where Louis points, doing a double take when he spots him.

“Wait a minute, that’s–”

“The guy you talked to earlier, isn’t it?” Louis quickly cuts in.

“Yeah!” Niall laughs, surprised.  “I honestly had no idea his name is Harry.”  What Niall doesn’t say is how excited he is to see Harry, and how he can’t explain that his heart is rapidly pounding at the sight of him.

“Maybe you can say something to him about his outfit,” Louis tuts.  “Showing up looking like a hobo, you’d think he’d have a little more sense than that.”

“Oh, come on, he just has a rip in his jeans,” Niall reasons, but relents when Louis gives him a blank stare.

They look back at fidgety Harry, noticing his white and slightly oversized t-shirt is tattered with a pattern of small holes, and his faded black jeans are cut up with large rips on the knees.  His saving grace at this point are his black leather biker boots, looking newer than the beat up suede pair Niall had often seen him wear.

“Okay, Harry!” Ben says in a loud voice.  “Let’s get started.  This can go any way you like, so tell me which scene you want to perform.  Oh, and choose _wisely_.”

Then and there, Harry surprises Ben by choosing a scene from the third act; a moment with Friar Laurence after Romeo’s imminent banishment.  Ben begins with the Friar’s lines, and Harry responds as Romeo, his deep voice vibrating throughout the entire auditorium.

Harry manages to turn everyone on their heads, surprised at his ability to grab their attention.  For every line Ben feeds him, Harry eloquently and effortlessly speaks the Elizabethan text, like a song reassembled.  Even the expressions on his face were far more authentic than the other students before him, his voice rising in time with Ben’s as the scene continued.

 _Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe, and smilest upon the stroke that murders me!_ , Harry shouts at Ben, who's genuinely taken aback with a hand over his chest.

“Wow, Zayn wasn’t lying about Harry,” Niall says in awe, catching Louis nodding in agreement.  “I wonder how he stayed under Zayn’s radar for so long,” he quietly adds, rubbing the goosebumps from his arms.

The scene ends in a quick five minutes later and the entire cast, including Niall and Louis, fiercely applaud for a blushing Harry.  Niall is endeared when he catches Harry wiping his eyes, having been so caught up in the scene that he began to tear up.  Ben holds up a hand to calm everyone down, snapping his fingers at Zayn to stop jumping in his seat.

“Harry, I will tell you right now—that was _really_ fucking amazing.  It’s such a simple scene but you really turned it around and made it your own.  You even cried, man!”  Ben throws his hands up, looking at Harry in astonishment.  “That was _the_ best performance I’ve seen in the last two weeks, hands down.”  The students behind Ben murmur their agreements, including Zayn, who whistles as loud as he can for Harry.

“I-I don’t know what else to say but thank you.”  Harry holds back a smile, his cheeks turning pink.

“If you’re not in a rush, do you think you can do another scene for us?  Any one you’d like,” Ben asks with the hopes Harry will say yes.

Niall pops one of the gummy worms into his mouth and misses, cursing out loud when it lands just a few feet away from Harry.  Louis smacks the back of his head and Harry looks in their direction, letting out a laugh when he recognizes Niall.  Instead of giving their usual nods, they end up smiling, and the thought of jumping down to kiss Harry suddenly crosses Niall's mind.  But he doesn't go through with it, and instead, Niall opens his mouth and does the unthinkable to everyone's surprise.

“ _Then window, let day in, and let life out,_ ” Niall says hastily.  He can hear Ben gasp ‘ _holy crap!_ ’ in the background, and Niall stands on his feet to properly face Harry.

Harry’s eyes look as though they might be sparkling, the corner of his lip curling into a smile when he runs closer to the balcony.  “ _Farewell, farewell!  One kiss, and I'll descend_ ,” he replies just as quickly, and Niall can feel himself blushing from Harry’s voice alone.

Niall struggles to remember the next few lines and fumbles when he says them, flustered by Harry’s sweet and dimpled smile.  Niall’s entire world is shrouded in a blur of darkness for the next two minutes, his anchor being Harry who carries him with words until a crunch from Louis’s chips brings him back into the world of stage production.

“ _Adieu,_ ” Harry slowly blows a kiss, using both hands to send it.  Niall adds to the moment, pretending to catch it to amuse Harry.  “ _Adieu!_ ”

The cast applauds when they’re done, especially Zayn who does a wolf whistle for them.  Niall and Harry are disoriented, turning away as if nothing had happened.  Louis claps his hand on Niall’s shoulder, his laughs of surprise more along the lines of impressed rather than in jest.

“Well well, fair Juliet!  Who knew you had it in you?” Louis grins, pinching Niall’s already reddened cheeks.  “You two were so convincing, I honestly thought Harry was gonna come up here and actually kiss you.”

Niall pushes him away, embarrassed and flattered at the same time.  “Don’t think for one second I’m going to audition,” he glares at Louis, “I just got caught up in the moment.”

He looks back at the stage where Harry is standing with his hands crossed behind his back, his pigeon-toed stance making his posture smaller.  Harry tilts his head and slowly looks up to where Niall is still standing, their eyes meeting again before they immediately look away, embarrassed and unable to keep a smile off their faces.

—

Auditions are finished an hour later and Niall’s singing to himself while he wraps up the cords to the light stands.  A soft breeze enters when Louis opens the back doors, airing out the stuffy auditorium, the lighter curtains billowing over the stage.

Niall breathes in the cool air and turns his snapback around, slowly walking through the flowing fabrics, twisting the cords into place over his arm.  For every step Niall takes, he can hear another pair of feet behind him, but pays no attention, considering the squeaky hardwood floor hasn’t been replaced in years.  A piece of electrical tape holds down the latter end of a cord and Niall kneels down, picking at its edges when he notices a pair of black boots approaching.

“Juliet?”

Niall stills, eyes wide and unsure of looking up.  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” the boots tell Niall with a twist of a foot.  He rises to his feet, and to his surprise, he’s met with Harry’s friendly smile.  Niall finds he’s not that bad looking up close, ignoring the few pimples spread around his forehead and chin, endeared by Harry’s nervousness.

“Harry, right?” Niall asks just for confirmation, and Harry nods, shaking Niall’s hand.  “Nice to meet you too, man.  How long have you been here?”

“Three years?” Harry replies confused, but immediately laughs and points at Niall with a silly grin.  “You meant how long was I stand—anyway, I’m sorry if I freaked you out earlier,” he says too quickly.  “I guess I got into it and I didn’t know what I was doing until it was over.  But I appreciate that you played along with me.”

Niall chuckles and hoists the cords over his shoulder, letting his arm rest.  “Don’t worry, it was actually kind of fun!  Dunno what came over me when I said it, but I’m just glad you knew what scene I was doing.”

“I’ve studied Shakespeare’s plays like the back of my hand,” Harry replies quietly, “it was a bit of a no-brainer.”

“The scene you picked seemed like a piece of cake.”

“It was nothing,” Harry shyly tells him and Niall can’t help but smile.  “Zayn suggested I pick a scene that would make me emotional and I guess it worked.”

“Yeah,” Niall winks at him, and Harry’s eyes widen before he looks at his feet.  “I think you’ve got it in the bag.”

Niall notices Harry’s perfume trail, light and woodsy, despite his tattered clothing that made him think Harry would smell awful.  Realizing he’s staring, Niall excuses himself to finish his task and steps aside, leaving Harry to stand alone between the curtains.

“Hey, wait!  I never got your name!” Harry squeaks, chasing after Niall.

 _Niall, get in my office!  Now!_ Ben shouts from the other side of the stage.

“Well, there you go.  Ben just said it,” laughing as he faces Harry.

“I’ll see you around, Juliet.  I mean, Niall!  Your name is Niall, not Juliet!” Harry backs away, nervously laughing to hide his embarrassment.  “Sorry again about earlier, I didn’t mean to— _whoa!_ ” Harry misses his step and stumbles into the curtains, his arms flailing around to keep him from being trapped.

Niall rushes to his side, holding the curtains up when Harry runs out with his hands over his messy hair.  “Harry, are you all right?”

“I’m okay!  I’m fine, I’ll just, uh,” Harry’s face is a dark shade of red, his eyes as wide as plates when he looks at Niall.  “I’m gonna go home now.  Gotta study.  I have a study sheet.  Um, _seeyoulaterbye!_ ”

Harry makes a break for the side entrance, nearly crashing into Zayn when he enters, and disappears from sight.  Niall turns away with a smile, amused by their awkward exchange, and walks through the billowing curtains again.

—

Hands behind his back, Niall calmly stands in front of a contemplative Ben, his expression serious with a fist under his flush of stubble.  Niall’s becoming antsy the longer Ben stares him down, like a father contemplating a proper punishment for his misguided son.  A little noise comes out of Niall’s mouth when he tries to break the tension, but Ben holds up a hand to keep him from speaking.

Ben reaches into his back pocket and takes out his phone, tapping a few things ands sets it onto his desk.  He pushes it towards the edge and hits a button, playing a recorded video of Niall and Harry’s impromptu audition.  Niall can feel the acid in his stomach melt his insides, but listening even closer, he finds that he and Harry don’t sound too bad as a team.  He can even hear Zayn’s voice in the background, a continual line of _holy shit!_ and _don’t they sound so in love?_ much to his amusement.

“What the hell did you think you were doing out there?” Ben asks, shifting in his squeaky leather chair.

“Uh, just–um, I was putting away the lights like you asked?”

“Not that, I meant your shenanigans with Harry!  When were you going to tell me you knew the lines?”

“Well, I mean, you’ve been auditioning people for the last two weeks. I was bound to remember some of them.”

“And you didn’t think to try out for me?” Ben stands up from his seat to lean over his desk, his face just a foot away from Niall’s.  “You _know_ I’ve been looking for fresh faces for this play, and you just go off doing a random scene with the best actor I’ve seen this side of Zayn Malik?”

“But I’m a stagehand!” Niall squawks, his hands fidgety.  “And look, Zayn’s already taking Harry under his wing, I doubt he’d want a flunky like me messing up his scenes.”

“I’ll flunk you if you don’t accept a speaking part in this play.”

“Ben, I never question the decisions you make as a director, but this might be your worst idea ever.”

Niall continually dodges Ben’s efforts to give him a part in the play, no matter how convincing it all sounds.  Watching the audition process is daunting enough, but for Niall to actually memorize lines and learn stage choreography is a completely different ball game that he doesn’t even want to remotely fuck with.

Several minutes later, he finally leaves Ben’s office, sighing in relief when shuts the door and heads to the dressing rooms.  Louis is lying on one of the leather couches with Zayn, and Niall recounts to them what happened when they ask.

“Come on, Niall, it’d be totally cool if you got a part!  What’s wrong with saying yes?” Zayn sits up, grabbing Niall’s hands like a needy child.

“Oh, please,” Niall takes his hands back.  “I said those lines to Harry because–” he stops, unable to come up with an answer.  “I don’t actually know why I said them.  It just… came out.”

“Of course it did,” Louis snorts.  “Next thing you know, Ben will be officiating your secret marriage even though your families are lifelong enemies, and I’ll be at the ceremony as your best man.”

“And me!” Zayn points at himself with a grin.  “Pick me, I can cry on command.”

“Not all of us were blessed with your stellar acting abilities,” Niall waves Zayn off.  “What I did with Harry was for fun.  I’m not trying to win a Tony Award for best improvising here.”

“Of course not,” Zayn smiles, draping his arm around Niall’s shoulders.  “But from what I saw earlier, you’re going to end up as Harry’s muse.  If he’s into that sort of thing.”

—

The cast roster is posted the next day, tacked on the cork board next to Ben’s office.  There’s a crowd of people by his door, clamoring to see what parts they’ve been given.  Niall waits until the crowd lessens, making his way towards the board once he has enough room.  Louis joins him and Niall runs his finger down the list, smiling at the familiar names of their friends and their characters: Josh as Benvolio, Eleanor as Juliet, Zayn as Mercutio, and brothers Danny and Ant as Lord Montague and Capulet.

Continuing down the line, there’s one name Niall can’t find.  “Harry’s not on this list,” he tells Louis, worried.  “Why would he not be on here, he was the obvious contender!”

“He’s new, you know.  Or maybe Ben did it on purpose,” Louis pats Niall’s shoulder.  “Come on.  We’ll be late for the meeting.”

They make their way to their usual spot on the balcony, listening as Ben makes his announcements, spouting out the schedule for the next few weeks.  Several minutes into it, Niall spots Harry sitting in the ground seats at the end of the first row, right in his line of sight.  He’s got his shaven friend with him, the surname of ‘Payne’ emblazoned on the back of his distinct blue hoodie.  They keep leaning over to speak into each other’s ears, so much that Louis inadvertently does the same thing, asking Niall if they should head to Chipotle afterwards.

“Now, I’m sure all of you have seen the cast list, yes?” Ben asks, met with an agreement of murmurs.  “There was a name left off on purpose, but I’m sure he knows who he is, so if Harry can— _yes, you!_ ”  Ben motions for Harry to stand up when he points at himself, slowly rising to his feet.  “After searching high and low, I want everybody to welcome Harry as Romeo to our production!”

Harry is given a light round of applause, shyly waving at his fellow cast mates before he quickly sits back down.  He runs his hand through his hair and looks over to the balconies, his face lighting up when Niall gives him a thumbs up.  Ben makes his final comments and dismisses the meeting, and Louis is the first to leave, quickly running down the stairs with Niall catching up.  When Niall reaches the lobby, however, Louis is gone and Harry’s standing at the foot of the steps with a smile on his face.

“Hey, Niall,” he says, giving him a little wave.

“Oh, I’m not Juliet today?” Niall jokingly asks, making Harry pink up a little.

“You still could be, if you wanted.”

Unlike the day before, Niall notices Harry’s clothes are a little more presentable, wearing a new pair of jeans and a white tank with an open flannel shirt, although his hair looks as if he’d just rolled out of bed.  Niall makes a note of the little curls at the end of Harry’s hair, getting an inkling that he’d like to run his hands through it if Harry lets him.

“So, this is what it’s like to be in a play, huh?” Harry asks with his fingers hooked together.  “I’ve never done this before and um, I think it would be okay, you know, if you wanted?  We totally could and everything would be really cool.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Niall blankly replies.

“Oh god!  Sorry, I wasn’t thinking again,” Harry turns away, tugging on a curl.  “I just thought maybe you could rehearse with me after what happened yesterday.”

Niall begins to laugh, shaking his head when he walks away from Harry.  “That sounds grand and all, but I am the _last_ person you should be asking.  I’m not even in the cast, let alone a drama student!  Please tell me this was Ben’s idea.”

“Ben?  He’s got nothing to do with this,” Harry replies, surprised.  “I’m asking because you know the lines like I do!  You’re the only other person I know here besides Zayn, please reconsider,” he pleads as he’s catching up.

“You’re out of your mind, I’m just a stagehand!  Look–” Niall stops to face Harry, stumbling when their chests bump.  Harry’s holding Niall just below his shoulder blades, their faces inches away from each other.

“You okay?” Harry asks quietly.  Niall nods and Harry lets go of him, his hands slowly sliding off Niall’s back.

Niall looks away for a moment, flustered and nervous.  “ _Look_ ,” he gruffly emphasizes, “Zayn is the star of this entire program—literally one of the best actors to ever attend this school!  He is _the_ guy to be friends with and he’s gone out of his way to take you under his wing.  Surely he told you he’d give you advice and all that?”

“Well, in confidence, but–”

“Then let him do his job.  You’ll be rehearsing this thing four hours a day for the next three and a half weeks, Harry.  Zayn will work his magic and I promise he’ll take care of you.”

Harry gives a defeated sigh, making Niall feel a little guilty about his answer.  In Niall’s defense, the best acting he’d ever done was at the age of twelve, when he lied to his father about accidentally breaking an expensive vase in the house and put the blame on his brother, Greg.  It worked until Greg figured out what really happened and put Niall in a headlock, forcing him to tell their dad the truth.

Louis comes back into the lobby moments later with another bag of candy, shaking Harry’s hand when Niall introduces them to each other.

“Harry!  Hey, what time are we supposed to be at the banquet?”  Harry’s shaven friend emerges from a side entrance, doing a double take when he recognizes Niall. He introduces himself as Liam, and gives Niall a firm handshake. "Good to finally meet you, man!" Liam exclaims, then turns to Louis, raising his brow in interest. "And, uh, who might you be?"

“I'm Louis,” he grins, straightening his posture. "Best friend to Niall, stagehand to Ben, and interested in why you're here."

“Member of the track team, but also a best friend to Harry. I'm obviously here for oral supp–” Liam laughs at his mistake, and Harry rolls his eyes.  “ _Moral_ support, if you like.”

“Well, if _you_ like, my interests lie with nachos, the color fuchsia, and blue hawaiians,” Louis bats his eyes, making Liam laugh.

Harry leans over to whisper in Liam’s ear, leaving Louis to wink at Niall and point his head towards the two friends.  Niall scoffs at Louis' sudden change in demeanor, going from mild mannered to extremely flirtatious in a matter of seconds.  Niall kind of wishes he was as forward as Liam; being able to cut the crap and get to what really needs to be said (and in his mind, he's thinking along the lines of, _hey Harry, now that we're officially friends I think I want to make out with you_ ).

“We have to head to a banquet now, but I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Harry smiles, and there’s a tingle in Niall’s chest when he smiles back.

“Have a safe trip,” Louis softly says to Liam.

“I like you, Louis,” Liam flat out tells him with a nod.  “You’re interesting.  We should talk some time.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Louis preens, smiling so wide Niall can see his crinkles.  “I'm available to chat any time, actually.”

“How’s your stroke game?”  Louis is beside himself in shock, while Liam just smiles at Harry and Niall erupting with laughter.  “You don’t have to answer that, of course.  I just assumed a nice body like yours must be on the swim team.”

Louis looks around nervously, his face scarlet red from Liam’s compliment.  “Maybe you could teach me to have one?” Louis asks, and Liam smirks, giving him a sly wink.  “I’m sorry, you really caught me off guard—do you say this to everyone you meet?”

"Well," Liam looks at Niall who looks at Harry, then turns his attention back to Louis.  “Would you like to find out for yourself?”

Niall bursts with laughter again, burying his head into Harry’s shoulder to muffle his volume.  Their noses accidentally bump when Niall looks up, quickly backing away from each other with numerous apologies and hidden smiles.  They find Liam and Louis trading numbers, the latter still looking as flustered as ever with Liam smugly grinning at him.  Harry checks his watch and grabs Liam by the arm, waving goodbye to Niall before he leaves.

—

Armed with a large, ice cold water bottle in his hand, Niall takes two steps at a time up the staircase to the roof of the auditorium.  The wooden railing bolted to the stone wall has a fresh coat of varnish, though it’s more than likely going to need replacing considering its aging appearance.  When Niall reaches the last step, he finds the door ajar, a sliver of the hot sun sizzling onto the normally cool concrete.

Preparing himself for the blinding brightness of the sun, Niall adjusts the bill of his snapback, making sure it fits snugly over his flat hair, and slowly pushes open the warm and heavy door with his arm.  He’s surprised when he finds Harry pacing in front of the metal scaffolding of an old wooden billboard, the front of it painted with their school’s name in blue and orange.  It’s been a few days since they’d last spoken to each other, and with a smile, Niall sneaks up behind Harry as quietly as he can to scare him.

“You’re not allowed to be up here.”

Harry yelps when he turns around, putting a hand to his chest when he comes to his senses.  Niall reaches for Harry’s arm and apologizes, shaking him out of his fright.  The billboard offers some of its shade in a far off corner from the eighty degree heat, and Niall waves Harry over to tag along with him.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be up here,” Harry says nervously.  “I just thought I could–I didn’t mean–”

“I was just messing with you,” Niall laughs.  “Just make sure to keep the door open, it gets jammed sometimes and security are dicks about having to bust it down.”  Harry smiles with a nod in response.  “So what brings you up here?”

“Rehearsal got really intense and I freaked out.”  Harry sits on a shady part of the ground, leaving enough space for Niall to sit with him.

“Yeah?  How intense?”

“Intense enough that Zayn and Josh had to take me aside and calm me down.”  Harry takes a deep breath, flailing his hands a little.  “I told them I just didn’t know if I could handle all the technical stuff about acting.  I was all right when we started, but then Ben started spouting all this terminology at me out of nowhere and he wouldn’t stop.  I felt like I was being thrown to the lions until Zayn stepped in.”

“Oh, no,” Niall quietly says.  “I think Ben forgets you’re still new and haven’t taken any of the acting workshops.  He’s also a bit of a perfectionist and it’s kind of irritating.”

“I’m sure everyone finds me irritating,” Harry mumbles, putting his head down.  “New kid ruining everything.”

“That’s not true, don’t say that,” Niall tells him, but Harry refuses to look up.  Niall sighs sadly and sits closer to Harry, drinking from his bottle of water.  He offers some to Harry the moment he wipes a sheen of sweat from his forehead, but Harry politely declines with a smile. 

Observing Harry in silence, Niall notices his spotty complexion is looking a lot better now, not as acne-ridden as it often was whenever they greeted each other. He even notices the green luster of Harry’s eyes when he looks at him, though Niall’s unsure why his heart thumps loudly at the thought of it.

“I was helping out with some set pieces backstage, but I thought you sounded great.  Far from irritating, if you ask me,” Niall assures him.  “But it’s good that Zayn was there to help you out, he really knows how to keep the peace.  I’ve joked that he was probably a cop in another life.”

Harry laughs, relaxing a little bit.  “Everyone speaks highly of Zayn, I admire that.  I owe a lot to him,” he nods, wiping the condensation off of Niall’s bottle with a finger.

“He’s a good guy, always has been,” Niall softly replies.  Their hands touch when Niall grips the neck of the bottle, looking at each other as quickly as they pull their hands away, obvious that they’re both blushing.

Niall’s distracted by the squeak of the heavy door, only to look back when he feels Harry’s fingers tapping his low top sneakers.  The pad of Harry’s index finger crashes over the dirty rubber sole, vibrating into the nooks and crannies of Niall’s body.  Niall puts a hand over his bad knee, pretending it belongs to Harry just to feel just how warm they are to the touch.  Harry cracks one of his knuckles, snapping Niall out of his daydream.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Harry asks, surprising Niall.  “I kind of noticed that you limp when you walk sometimes, I just assumed–” Harry’s eyes widen and immediately apologizes.  “That was rude of me, I don’t normally blurt things out like that.”

“Are you usually this nervous?” Niall asks with a laugh, but Harry shakes his head.

“Not when I’m with you.”

Niall’s heart flutters, breathing a little heavy when he glances at Harry with a hidden smile.  “Had a baseball injury in high school,” he says, drawing a line down the middle of Harry’s knee cap with his thumb, “cut me open right here so they could fix it up.  I wasn’t looking to be a professional athlete or anything, but it just sucks that I can’t play as well as I used to.”

“That’s awful, I’m sorry,” Harry sadly says.  “I sprained my ankle once, but I’m sure that’s nothing compared to what you went through.”

“Still painful, I’m sure.”

“Just a little bit,” he laughs.  Harry retraces the line Niall had drawn, the touch of their fingers sending an electric jolt when they meet.  Niall’s heart begins to race, nervously looking at Harry when they move their hands away.

“Hey, so, Liam and Louis seem to be getting along nicely,” Harry clears his throat, scratching the back of his head.  “Liam really likes the attention he gets from Louis, but they talk about the weirdest things.  He sends me pictures of their conversations about rubbing butter on open wounds and leaving trails of candy around a toilet.”

Niall nearly spits out his water when he tries to take another drink, wiping his mouth as he laughs.  “I hate to say this, but it’s probably a good idea to tell Liam that Louis won’t be leaving him alone for some time.”

“Liam's pretty straightforward when he likes someone," Harry quietly says. "But what about you?  What do you do when you like someone?” Niall bites his lips and looks away from Harry, hoping his cheeks haven’t gone red.

“Nothing. I haven’t really bothered to look for anyone for a long time.  I guess I’m just lazy.”

“Great!  That’s the best news I've heard all day.”

“Wait, what was that supposed to mean?” Niall says, confused.  Harry offers no response to Niall and grins as smugly as Liam did with Louis, rising to his feet and walking away with an extra bounce in his step.

—

Ben hangs a calendar on the cork board next to his office, and the days leading to the premiere at the end of the month are crossed off with a large red marker.  It’s already been a week and a half, and it’ll another ten days before Ben can debut gawky Harry to the school as the dashing Romeo Montague.

Niall often finds himself sitting at the balcony on most days watching Harry rehearse, usually claiming his spot once he’s done with his tasks.  But during the times Niall actually works, he makes sure Harry can see him, so much that Harry ends up smiling during dramatic scenes or laughing when he hears Niall shouting demands at the other crew members.

Zayn catches on to their little exchanges, playfully teasing them when he can—making kissing noises when the two are near each other or singing ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ to their embarrassment.

Ben is beyond irritated when Harry speaks to Niall on the balcony instead of Eleanor, leaving him to complain and whine about the time they’re losing from their frequent meetings.  His attempts to have Zayn keep Harry in check backfires almost every day, especially when Zayn decides to watch his two friends reciting both scripted and unscripted lines to each other.  Their interactions are so frequent that Zayn dubs them as ‘Harry Montague’ and ‘Juliet Horan’, and insists they call each other that for his amusement.

“Juliet Horan, descend from thine perch and give me a kiss that would leave me most satisfied,” Harry says rather romantically.

“Harry Montague, thou canst kiss me but your leading lady who is sure to kill you.  And here she comes!  Take heed, my angel!” Niall shouts, and cracks up when Eleanor smacks Harry over the head with her script.

“My lady, my love!  It’s not what you think!” Harry squeaks, covering his head from Eleanor’s attack.

Ben tries to bring their fight to a stop, but lies down on the floor instead, covering his face with his clipboard in protest.  “I just,” he mumbles, flailing his hands, “really need a vacation.”

—

Niall and Harry mutually agree to meet at the roof of the auditorium, usually during the half hour break Ben gives to the cast and crew.  Niall tells his hilarious stories and Harry tells his own, but the more Harry talks about his love for Shakespeare, the more Niall ends up being drawn to him.  He’s itching to impress Harry, and decides to research the playwright’s life and works during his free time, hoping to learn more about what makes Harry tick.

“Do you believe those rumors about someone else writing Shakespeare’s plays?”

Harry laughs, shaking his head in disappointment.  “Some scholars do, but I don’t.  It’s funny, ‘cause his work wasn’t questioned at all while he was still alive _and_ for at least three centuries after that!”

“Man, I would not wait three hundred years to call someone out.  Who’s got that kind of time anyway?”

“Just some losers that didn’t make this ‘best of’ list during the 19th century,” Harry rolls his eyes.  “I guess it was the end of the world to them to have some sort of validation, you know?”

“That’s messed up,” Niall shakes his head.  “Speaking of validation, don’t you think Romeo and Juliet could have handled their situation a little better?”

“Obviously.  If you ask me, they were actually insufferable,” Harry admits, holding back a laugh.  “They met, they kissed, and got married in less than a day.  Not to mention they were only like, thirteen?  They practically invented the Las Vegas marriage.”  Niall can’t help but crack up, and laughs even harder when Harry laughs with him.

After a few moments, they eventually calm down, basking in the cool breeze that passes over their heads as they sit against the wooden billboard.  Niall watches as Harry’s finger traces the metal ring that holds the leather straps of his boots together, still new and lightly scuffed on the edges.  Harry puts two fingers through the ring and he looks up, eyes wide when Niall clears his throat to get his attention.

“I never would have thought about this kind of stuff if it weren’t for you, Harry.”

“Yeah?” Harry blushes.  “It’s pretty interesting, huh?”

“Only when I talk about it with you,” Niall replies and Harry can’t do anything but grin.

And _god_ , does that grin punch Niall in the gut.  Nearly every little thing Harry’s been doing lately punches Niall different places.

Since they first met, Harry’s goofy smile makes Niall’s heart beat a little faster, and he’s noticing Harry’s slow change in appearance is a lot more evident in that everything just _fits_ on him; especially his skin tight jeans that showcase his long legs.  Niall feels like the air’s sucked out of his lungs every time Harry leans into him, and it’s worse when Harry tells a joke that isn’t funny at all, but Niall laughs just to please him.  Even Harry’s large hands leave Niall feeling a little hot sometimes, watching Harry rub the insides of his thighs out of boredom, wishing he could feel those hands on his body instead.

It’s a lot for Niall to think about, wanting Harry to touch him.  He can only wonder if Harry feels the same.

—

Days later, the two friends discuss the parallels between ‘Henry V’ and ‘My Own Private Idaho’.  They heavily debate about the casting choice of Keanu Reeves as the modern day Prince Hal—Harry seems to think he’s perfect, but Niall digresses on the grounds of “everything he says sounds like a question!”—though they both agree River Phoenix’s performance as Mike Waters is one of his best.

Midway through their conversation, Niall gets a text from Louis, telling him to come back down to the auditorium.  Their break isn’t over, but Ben needs extra help with a set and needs all the stagehands to start as soon as possible.

“Niall, before you go, I want you to know–” Harry pauses, his eyes growing a little bigger, “never mind.”

“Whoa, don’t do that,” Niall puts a hand on Harry’s arm.  “Tell me what you need to say.”

Harry freezes from Niall’s touch, his expression torn between speaking or staying quiet.  “I think I’m at risk here,” he says quietly, “I think I might be reading things wrong.”

“Reading?  Did you mean your script?”

Harry shakes his head.  “It has nothing to do with the play.  It’s about, um, well, what we’re doing.  Why we talk and all.”

“Harry, I’m not sure I understand.”

Harry swallows, taking in short breaths of air.  “I’m really nervous about this and I might freak out if I don’t say anything.  I tend to keep things inside even when I shouldn’t, but I can’t keep this to myself any longer.”

“Why?  What’s stressing you out?”

Harry picks at the hem of his shirt, looking at his feet.  “ _You_ , Niall.  It’s you.”

“Me?” Niall stands back in shock.  “If I’ve said something, why didn’t you–”

“But you haven’t and that’s what’s killing me,” Harry turns away, putting a hand to his forehead.  “I’ve spent this entire time wondering if what I’m going through is real or if I’ve mistaken your kindness for something else.  But after getting to know you,” Harry pauses, biting his lips together, “I know what I’ve been feeling for you isn’t a mistake.  It can’t be.”

Niall’s mouth opens a little, blinking in surprise.  “ _You like me?_ ”  Then it comes back to him, the first time they sat on the roof together.  “This is why you asked what I did if I liked someone, isn’t it?”

“I just wanted to know.  And I don’t expect you to feel the same.”  Niall’s stomach sinks, because all he ever thinks about nowadays is Harry, Harry, Harry.  “Most people don’t read up on Shakespeare just to talk to me, they usually don’t give a crap.  You didn’t have to do any of that, but I wanted you to keep going because I enjoyed hearing what you have to say.  And,” Harry takes a deep breath, “Niall, I can’t help looking at you the way I do.  You’re so energetic and sweet and kind and your laugh is just so infectious, I didn’t know what else to do.”

Niall is completely taken aback by Harry’s confession, his heart ready to jump out of his chest when he realizes how much he wants this from Harry.  It should have been as obvious as a blinking neon sign, and Niall laughs, realizing just how oblivious they’ve been to each other’s feelings.  In the seconds Niall is unaware that he hasn’t spoken, Harry says his name to get his attention and he freezes.

Freezes from the crash of Harry’s lips over his.

Niall’s mind goes into overdrive with incoherent thoughts, wondering what the hell is going on to the realization that _holy shit_ , he and Harry are kissing.  They are actually kissing and _god damn_ if Harry’s lips aren’t the softest pair Niall has felt in a long time.

After the initial shock, Niall closes his eyes and cups the back of Harry’s neck, opening his mouth to let Harry deepen the kiss.  Harry moans when their tongues meet, and Niall pushes Harry back against the warm wooden billboard.  Niall kisses Harry even harder when he feels Harry’s hands under his shirt, the light and delicate touch of Harry’s fingertips on the small of his back leaving him wanting more.  Niall trails his free hand along the underside of Harry’s thigh, then hooks his finger into the belt loop of Harry’s jeans to bring him closer.  Just as Niall’s thumb traces Harry’s hip, Harry makes a noise of protest and immediately backs away, his surprised expression mirroring that of Niall’s.

“What are you doing?” Niall asks, breathless and bewildered.  “I didn’t tell you to stop.”

“Oh god, I can’t believe I did that,” Harry covers his face, embarrassed.  “I don’t know what came over me, I’m so sorry, I never–”

“Why are you apologizing?” Niall cuts in, genuinely confused.  “Don’t,” he breathes out as Harry steps closer.  “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I have to, Niall.  You don’t know how much I’ve wanted this from you.  I’ve imagined this a million times in my head for the last two weeks and now that it’s happening, I’m so–”  Niall cuts him off with a quick kiss, savoring the apology he doesn’t need to tell.

“How do you know I haven’t done the same?  How do you know,” he looks up at Harry, his eyes flickering with _want_ and _need_ , “that I haven’t been waiting to make a move on you, too?”

“This can’t be real,” Harry shuts his eyes, holding his breath.  “Tell me I’m not making this up.”

Niall’s phone goes off, distracting Harry.  Niall puts a hand to Harry’s cheek to face him, looking into his eyes again and thinks, _fuck it, Ben can wait a few more minutes,_ before he kisses Harry again.

—

They don’t talk about the kiss after that.  But they agree to keep it going anyway.

Between the red curtains, in Ben’s office, on the highest balcony, and even in the secret entrance under the stage is where Harry and Niall continue their secret make out sessions.  It never lasts more than five minutes, when they know they might be found out, but Niall enjoys the rush it gives him when Louis asks why his cheeks have gone red every hour of rehearsals.

Their stolen kisses are a game of cat-and-mouse, but the reward is worth it every time until Zayn and Louis accidentally catch the couple against a table of plastic swords in the prop room.  Zayn is undoubtedly over the moon for them, but Louis remains silent.  Niall’s worried about what Louis will say to him, but he’s sure his friend will be informing Liam every little detail of their encounter.

And the next day, Niall is absolutely right.  Louis corners him in the school’s parking lot, pushing Niall against his car and staring him down like a ravenous lion.

“When the hell were you going to tell me you and Harry were together!?” Louis asks in a raised voice.  “Apparently Liam’s known about you two making out everywhere, but me!  How could you, Niall?  I’m your best friend and you can’t even tell me you have a boyfriend?”

“Louis, I can explain,” Niall stares at him, still scared.  “Harry and I have been doing this thing for a little while, but we’ve never actually admitted that we’re together,” he says pathetically.  Louis crosses his arms, demanding a better explanation, but all Niall can say is, “Wait a minute.  Why do I have to explain myself when you haven’t told me a damn thing about you and Liam!”

“Because we’re just friends!” Louis snips at him.  “Look, I’m sure you think it’s all fun and games with Harry, but you’re leaving him hanging on by a thread. This can only go on for so long until the thread just–” Louis holds up his hand and snaps his fingers in Niall’s face.

“Oh, please!” Niall scoffs, “Threads don’t snap like that.”

“Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.”  Louis uncrosses his arms and leans back against Niall’s car.  “I know I’ve been caught up with Liam this entire time, and I’m sorry if I’ve ignored you.  But Harry is like a little brother to Liam, you know?  And you’re my brother, too.  We don’t want either of you getting hurt.”

“No one is going to get hurt—we’re just kissing!”

“Yeah, but, what if you’re leading each other on?” Louis asks, genuinely concerned.  “What’ll happen then?”

“That’s ridi–Louis, no!” Niall says, horrified.  “I just thought we were already together, that what we were doing was okay.  Harry never said anything so I figured we were both giving each other what we wanted.”

“Then figure something out before,” Louis pauses, putting a hand on Niall’s shoulder, “before it’s too late.”

—

Unfortunately, the stage crew is overrun with set demands from Ben, leaving Niall absolutely zero time to meet up with Harry the following week.  They end up taking their breaks at different times, Harry starting his while Niall is still working, and Niall finishing his when Harry’s ready to go home.

They manage to meet up on a Thursday, and Harry’s a lot quieter than usual—mumbling incoherently when he speaks and turning away when Niall tries to kiss him.  It’s only when Niall asks him what’s wrong that Harry answers with, “I’m tired,” that it doesn’t sound entirely convincing.  Niall had listened to how energetic Harry sounded just several minutes before with Zayn, wondering if it was just a front the entire time.  His mind immediately pictures Harry on that thread, the fibers unraveling from his hand the tighter he holds on to it.

“Are you not getting enough sleep or is it something else?” Niall asks, nervously.

“I get enough,” Harry sighs, putting his head down.  “All of this theatre stuff is overwhelming, I’m just not sure if I can keep up with it.  Zayn’s doing his best, but I’m just nervous.”

“Harry,” Niall takes a step closer, “if you need help, just ask.  All of us are here to help you.  There are ways to deal with this.”

Harry closes his eyes and puts his hands behind his back, resting his head against the wall.  “You only deal in kisses,” Harry blankly tells him.  And _wow_ , does that hurt Niall.

He can feel his heart pop, realizing this is exactly what Louis had talked to him about.  Harry isn’t hanging on to that metaphorical thread, he’s going to spare the drama and cut it himself, and Niall refuses to let that happen.  Niall puts a hand to Harry’s jaw, giving Harry no option but to look at him when he opens his eyes.

“I can give you more than that,” Niall promises him, hoping Harry can tell that what he really means is _I’m sorry I’m such an idiot, please forgive me_.  “Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it.”

Harry leans forward, placing a kiss on Niall’s adam’s apple, chin, and lips.  “Then hold me, Niall,” he whispers, nuzzling their noses together, “just hold me.”  Niall immediately wraps his arms around Harry and whispers his apologies, the warmth of their embrace matching the heat of the afternoon sun.

—

_Runner number six, Liam Payne, to the track, please._

Ben cancels Friday’s rehearsal due to an emergency at home, and Louis manages to drag Niall to their very first school track meet.  Louis claims he’s there for school spirit, but Niall knows it’s just a ploy for Louis to check out Liam in his track uniform—a blue nylon tank top with the school’s name printed in orange, and a pair of shorts that might be a little too snug in the crotch area.  Louis makes one too many comments about Liam’s shorts, annoying Niall enough to tune him out while he looks through his phone.

Louis’s posture changes to that of a meerkat when Liam calls him over from the track, and makes a break for it down the concrete stairs.  Niall puts his phone away, furrowing his brow when he catches the tail end of Liam and Louis’s conversation.

_Once again: runner number six, Liam Payne, to the track._

“I’m _pretty_ sure I’m going to win today, so you can definitely come over to my house if I do,” Liam says rather confidently, ignoring the emcee calling for him.  “Just bring something to clean yourself up if you’re serious about it.  Things might get a little messy if we do it right.”

“You are so bad!  If I’d known you were going to say yes, I would have asked you earlier,” Louis croons, making Niall roll his eyes.

_Final call for runner number six, Liam Payne, to get on the track._

“Best get going.  My coach will kill me if I’m not out there,” Liam grins, swiping the pad of his index finger under Louis’s chin.  “Oh, hey, Niall!” Liam waves at him when he looks over.  “Harry told me to tell you he said hi.”

Niall immediately sits up.  “Is he here?  I need to talk to him.”

“Of course he is,” Liam gives him an amused look, then faces Louis with a coy smile.  “In fact, he’s right behind you.”

Niall stands to attention, turning around to see Harry leaning against the railing of the ramp’s entrance.  He’s wearing a loose white sweater with black jeans, his arms crossed over his stomach with a grin on his face.  Niall runs to Harry, giving him a hug and a subtle kiss on the cheek.

“I’m so glad you’re here, I’m usually by myself at these things,” Harry tells Niall, grateful.

“Louis didn’t want to go alone.  I’d say I got the better end of the deal seeing you here,” Niall grins to Harry’s delight.  He takes Harry’s hand in his and heads to the top of the bleachers, insistent of their privacy from spectators.

By the time Niall and Harry reach the top, they’re wheezing and out of breath, quickly snatching the open seats at the end of the row.  Harry sighs and rests his head against the railing behind him, taking in deep breaths when he closes his eyes.  Niall can’t help but admire the way Harry looks with the late afternoon sun highlighting his hair, making him look peaceful and angelic in his white sweater.  He gets an idea and takes out his phone, snapping a photo of a slumbering Harry.

“Did you just take a picture of me?” Harry asks, feigning annoyance.

“It’s a good shot!  No one else will see it but me,” Niall laughs, tucking his phone into his pocket.  Harry shakes his head, and sits closer to Niall.

The first race is announced and they stay quiet, their hands in close proximity of each other.  Niall jumps in his seat when the starting pistol goes off and Harry bursts out laughing, teasing Niall by tickling his waist a little.  After a few minutes, Niall faces Harry, waiting patiently until he turns to look at him.

“What?” Harry smiles, curious.

“So, um.  You know how we’ve been kissing a lot?”

“Well, _yeah_ ,” Harry goes a little pink, “how can I forget?”

“That’s what I want to talk about,” Niall says quietly.

“Oh.”

Harry’s smile disappears, his expression a mixture of serious and blank.  Niall’s stomach is churning trying to figure out what he needs to say to Harry, hoping he doesn’t make an ass of himself, but it’s proving fruitless.  There are too many thoughts clashing into each other as he tries to speak, and it only confuses Harry the longer Niall keeps stuttering.

“I-I just want–you see–” Niall groans, hanging his head back.  He sits up and links his hand with Harry’s, holding it tight.  “I’m going to cut the bullshit,” Niall sternly tells him.  “I love kissing you and I’ll do it until my lips fall off, but I don’t want to make you feel like I’m leading you on—that this thing we have isn’t a dead end.”

“Niall, what do you mean?  Just tell me what’s going on,” Harry says anxiously.

“I want you to feel like you can always have me—morning, afternoon, night, and even on Chicken Wing Wednesdays at my favorite restaurant.”  Harry scrunches his lips, making Niall shift around in his seat.  He wants to get this right the first time.  “I want you to be with me, is what I really mean.  I haven’t been with anyone in a long time, but I know that if we’re together,” Niall grins, feeling himself blush when he looks at Harry, “we totally could and everything would be really cool.”

He watches Harry’s eyes light up, knowing those were his exact words the second day they’d officially met.  Harry licks his lips, shakily breathing when he says, “Yeah, Niall?”

“Yeah, Harry.”

Harry waits a moment before he hugs Niall, muffling his relieved laughter into Niall’s shoulder.  “Jeez, you scared the crap out of me! I thought you were going to kick me to the curb, I was freaking out so bad.”  Niall cups the back of Harry’s neck when he looks up, giving Harry a kiss.

“I’d never kick you to the curb, I promise.  And if I do, I’m going right down with you,” Niall assures him.

“This is– _whoa_ ,” Harry swallows, eyes widened.  “I-I’m not the best at body language and signals and all that,” he says, embarrassed.  “I never could figure out what someone else is thinking just by looking at them.”

“Neither can I, but I might have had a reality check from Louis,” Niall admits with a laugh.  “Apparently Liam told him about us and got a little jealous.”

“You too, huh?  I figured they might’ve had something to do with it,” Harry grins, amused.  “So, er–even though I thought we were already together, does this mean we’re _officially_ boyfriends?” he asks excitedly, but immediately covers his face with a hand.  “Oh god, I sounded pathetic asking you that, I’m sorry.”

Niall snorts and threads his fingers through the hairs just above Harry’s neck, the strands tickling his skin and making Harry smile.  “You _know_ we are, Harry.  We’ll be whatever you want as long as you’re with me.”

“Are you still my Juliet?” Harry’s cheeks are a little redder, his dimple showing up when he grins.

“I could be, if you wanted,” Niall winks, making Harry laugh.  The couple happily wrap their arms around each other until Harry whispers in Niall’s ear, taking him by the hand with a hint of mischief in his smile.

—

At the end of the meet, Liam is awarded first place in the four hundred meter dash, the relay race, and hurdles.  Niall and Harry are flustered when Liam asks if they’d watched him, unaware the couple had run off to the supply room under the bleachers to make out the entire time.  They’d knocked over one too many football helmets off the shelves while Niall tried to balance Harry against the brick walls, ultimately settling against a large mesh bag full of soccer balls as Niall rutted his hips against a desperate Harry.

“Of course we watched!  You passed that baton so well when you ran, just–” Harry makes a _whoosh!_ sound, “so quick, Liam.”  Niall bursts with laughter, but Liam is less than amused.  “Oh, come on, you can’t get mad!  I’ve watched all your races in the last three years you’ve been on the team!”

Liam rolls his eyes, lightly pushing Harry away.  “All right, _fine_ , I forgive you just this once.  At least Louis was there to–”

“Oh, Liam!” Louis squeals when he runs up to him.  “I had no idea you were so aerodynamic jumping over those hurdles,” he breathes out, brushing his body against a smug Liam.  “I bet I can get you to jump higher than that.  Among other things, of course.”

“You want to make good on that bet?” Liam asks, biting his lip to entice Louis, looking him up and down like a beast eyeing its prey.  Louis’s breath starts to hitch, his chest visibly rising and falling the longer he stares back at Liam.  Niall’s growing uncomfortable watching them and breaks them out of their trance, suggesting they celebrate Liam’s win with dinner.

The four of them meet at Liam’s favorite restaurant, ordering a huge plate of chicken wings and nachos to share.  Harry and Niall spend their time flirting with each other, sneaking little kisses behind their ears and Niall jumping in his seat every time he feels Harry’s hand slink between his thighs.

It’s only when Niall looks over to the other side of their booth that Louis is frozen in his seat, his hand shaking as he tries to eat the nachos in front of him.  He’s mumbling under his breath when Niall tries to get his attention, refusing to break eye contact with whatever it is he’s been looking at since it started.

Harry accidentally drops his napkin and Niall reaches under the table to get it, his eyes widening when he sees Liam’s finger tracing circles and lines just over Louis’s thigh, moving closer and closer to his crotch.  Liam stops as soon as Niall comes back up, confused when he finds Louis leaning back against the booth, heavily breathing with his glass of Coke held to his forehead.

“Were you digging for treasure down there?” Harry laughs, biting into a buffalo wing.

Niall opens his mouth, but Liam shoots him a sharp look, rendering him silent.  “I’ll tell you later,” he says, and Liam goes back to eating.  Harry shrugs, but Niall leans into Harry’s ear and softly blows into it, making him shiver.  “Want to get out of here?”

Harry faces Niall, slowly licking a drop of sauce from his finger.  “Get the check.”

—

Just minutes after splitting the bill four ways, Niall brings his little green sedan to a halt in the parking lot of Katzen Paint Emporium, a huge paint store not too far from the restaurant.  Harry’s sitting in the passenger seat, having hitched a ride since he’d taken the bus (“Car’s in the shop all weekend,” he told Niall).  Harry made the clear choice to ride with Niall, especially since Liam was more interested in taking Louis home with him to do whatever it is that requires three towels and a box of donuts.

“So, er, you live in a paint shop?” Niall asks confused, making Harry laugh.

“Above it,” he points just outside of the open window.  “My dad’s friend owns the place, he offered to let me stay in one of the rooms for half price if I agreed to work for him in the mornings.”

“That’s pretty cool of him.  Kind of difficult to get a place without the need for ten roommates.”

“It’s small, but I can’t complain.  Plus, it’s closer to the school so I don’t have to spend an hour commuting from home.”

They stay quiet for a while, listening to the cars rushing past them the longer they sit inside.  Niall notices Harry’s fingers scratching along the tops of his thighs, using them to de-stress himself.  Niall gets a flash in his mind of Harry scratching his fingers along his back while they mess around, leaving the reddest of marks that would last for days.

“Are you coming up?” Harry blurts out, bringing Niall back to reality.  “It’s okay if you don’t want to, my place isn’t that great anyway.”

“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”  Niall unbuckles his seat belt and Harry grins.  Deviously.

—

A tangle of legs deter the two boys from getting to Harry’s apartment, unable to contain their laughter when they keep falling over the stairs to get to the top.  Reaching Harry’s door, Niall pushes him against it, sloppily making out for several minutes while Harry tries to unlock everything.  Niall hears a door open across the way and Harry opens his, pulling Niall inside.

Niall finds Harry’s place is small but clean, and he’s not really surprised by the poster of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo + Juliet’ hanging by the small refrigerator.  He was actually expecting it.

“Good one, this movie,” Niall points at the poster with a smile.

“The best!  It’s what got me into Shakespeare, actually,” he says, a little perky.  “I remember my mom and sister swooning over Leonardo DiCaprio, but I don’t think they knew that I was, too.”

“Leo, huh?” Niall wiggles his brows suggestively.  “He was definitely at his peak hotness there.”

Harry gives a short guided tour, and Niall browses through the neatly stacked school books on a small table and the pictures of Harry and his family.  Niall picks up one of the frames and recognizes it’s an older photo, judging by the height and style of Harry’s hair back then.  Even the baby fat on Harry’s cheeks were too damn endearing for Niall to keep from mouthing ‘aww’ out loud.

“Look at your curls, you look so different like this!  And cute,” Niall grins, putting the frame back in place.

“I must have been seventeen there.  I hope you can forgive my experimental hair phase right now,” Harry jokes, making Niall laugh.

Harry shows Niall into his bedroom, a small space with a twin sized bed tucked in a corner, covered in light grey sheets and a matching blanket.  Harry points to the shelf beside his bed, containing books of Shakespeare’s plays in its various editions and dvds of their film adaptations.  He shows off his unopened box set of ‘The Hollow Crown’ next to his laptop, telling Niall how excited he is to watch it when he gets the chance.

After a few minutes, Harry digs into his pockets, tossing his phone and wallet aside.  He clears his throat and crosses his arms with a furrowed brow.

“We’re done here.”

Niall is taken aback, surprised by Harry’s serious tone.  “Oh.  Okay, I’ll just see my way out then.”

“I meant,” Harry places his hand on Niall’s elbow, “we’re done talking about a dead guy.”

A prickly feeling washes over Niall’s skin, looking Harry up and down the same way Liam had done with Louis.  Harry wets his lips and Niall steps forward, kissing him hard.  Niall snakes his hand to the back of Harry’s neck and Harry’s hands slink their way onto Niall’s hips, walking him towards the bed and falling over when their legs hit the edge.

Harry straddles Niall’s waist and leans down to kiss him, grunting when they start to grind their hips, their moans growing louder by the second.  Niall rolls Harry over so he’s on top, pinning Harry’s hands down and leaving little kisses on his neck to tease him.

“Finally got you where I want,” Niall grins, licking along Harry’s lips.  “I can’t believe it took us an entire semester to finally meet each other.  Pretty sure all that nodding gave me whiplash.”

“I was too shy to talk to you, I couldn’t just–” Niall kisses Harry as he’s trying to respond, laughing as Harry mumbles into his mouth the entire time.  “I didn’t know we would ever come to this,” he continues, “but I’m glad you’re the first.”

“ _First_?  Has no one else crushed on you?” Niall replies with a laugh.

“The first to say it to me and meant it.  I usually get laughed at when I assume someone likes me.”  Niall lets go of his hold on Harry’s arms, climbing off of him to let Harry sit up.  “I mean, you saw what I looked like when we first met, I had all those pimples and looked like I barely escaped a paper shredder.”  Niall tilts his head, giving Harry an amused smile.  “I owe it to Zayn—all of this.  He’s the one who convinced me to audition and if I hadn’t–” Harry thins his lips, hesitant to speak.  “If I’d refused, we wouldn’t even be together.”

“We’d still have our nods,” Niall softly says with a smile.  “But paper shredder or not, spending time with you on the roof was enough to get me to like you.  Everything we did together, I just wanted to stay up there and keep talking until we got thrown out.”

“Me too,” Harry blushes, then quickly bites his lip.  “How much more will you like me for this?” he slowly pulls his loose sweater over his head and tosses it aside, leaving Niall speechless at the sight of his surprisingly toned body.  Niall never would have guessed Harry was rocking a six-pack, and he’s glad his mouth is going to kiss every inch of what he’s been missing.

“Jesus, Harry!  Where the hell did this come from?” Niall blurts out in awe.

“I do a lot of heavy lifting with those paint buckets downstairs,” Harry teases.  “And I work out with Liam when he trains so he’s not bored.  Not too bad, don’t you think?”

“Remind me to get Liam a present,” he grins, pushing Harry back onto his bed.  Niall slots his leg between Harry’s, kissing along his chest until he flicks his tongue over Harry’s nipple.  Harry bucks his hips at the sensation and Niall lets out a surprised gasp when he feels Harry’s hard dick against his thigh.  “I hope that was for me,” Niall jokes, but Harry nods enthusiastically.

“I haven’t done a lot of this,” Harry admits, sounding too anxious.  “So, you know–just, um, don’t be too quick with me, yeah?”  Niall nods and lets Harry position himself on the bed for better leverage.  Harry helps Niall remove his shirt, their fingers fumbling as they unbutton each other’s jeans.  Niall brackets Harry’s waist, propping himself up with his hands when they start rutting their hips together.

Harry lets out a strained moan, tipping his head back when Niall moves his hips in a slow, figure eight motion.  Niall curses when their bodies tremble from the sensation, going breathless when Harry brings him down for a kiss, pleading, “Don’t stop.”

—

There’s a buzzing in Niall’s head when he wakes up several hours later, his arm draped around Harry’s shoulders while Harry peacefully sleeps over his chest.  Harry’s hair smells of orange, a nice light scent that fills Niall up.  His head buzzes again and Niall realizes his phone is under the pillow, carefully pulling it out to see who’s bothering him.  He smacks his forehead when he sees several messages from his father, demanding to know where his son had gone and if he was okay.

Harry stirs as Niall’s sending an apology to his dad, smiling when Harry’s nose nuzzles against his neck.  They’re both shirtless and still in their boxers under Harry’s blanket, their legs weakly intertwined.  Niall can still hear the echoes of their night together, especially Harry’s overwhelmingly vocal curses when he left a trail love bites along Harry's hips.

Niall relaxes when his dad sends his final reply, rubbing his eyes from the morning sun peeking through the blinds next to Harry’s bed.  Harry sits up and stretches his arms, making Niall bite his lip at the sight of his back muscles flexing.  He reaches out for Harry as he’s yawning, the pads of his fingers tracing a line down Harry’s spine that makes him shudder and sway a little before he leans back on an elbow, facing Niall.

“Did something come up? You were texting pretty fast.”

“It was my dad.  He was flipping out ‘cause I forgot to tell him I wouldn’t be home.”

“Did you tell him what we did last night?” Harry smiles lazily and Niall’s heart pounds a loud beat.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear about it,” Niall ponders with a snort.  “Do you have work today?”

Harry shakes his head.  “Not on weekends.  And you can only stay if your dad says it’s okay,” he teases.

Minutes later they’re out of bed and in the shower, taking longer than expected when they end up messing around instead.  They make out under the warm water for several minutes, giving each other hand jobs that leaves both of them shaking when they come at the same time.

Niall clears his throat after they finish, telling Harry, “Don’t know about you, but I could definitely use some breakfast after that little workout.”

“I can make fried eggs if you want,” Harry says, tossing a clean towel to Niall before he dries off.  “Or we could go out, I don’t mind either way.”

Niall stays quiet as he’s running the towel through his hair, watching as Harry wipes away the leftover droplets from his taut body.  He grins when Harry wraps the towel around his waist, wincing as he gently rubs at one of the fresh love bites on his hip.

“Are you going to keep smiling or are you going to tell me what’s up?” Harry muses.

Niall raises a brow, casually pursing his lips.  “Just admiring the marks I left on you.”

Harry’s cheeks pink up and he pulls Niall closer with the towel hanging from his neck.  “I don’t have to leave any on you to know where I’ve been.”

—

The couple have a hearty breakfast at a diner two blocks from Harry’s place, and it’s enough to reenergize Niall for the rest of the day.  After he walks Harry back to his apartment, Niall happily struts down the staircase back to the parking lot, sparsely filled with pickup trucks and delivery vans from the building next door.

Niall’s spinning his keys around the hole of his keychain when an old red Jeep CJ pulls up behind his car, effectively blocking his way.  He lets out a sigh, waiting for the Jeep to move when its window rolls down, revealing none other than Liam wearing a pair of sunglasses and a mile-wide grin.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Liam sings, taking off his shades.  “Funny I should meet you here.  Everything cool?”

“Yeah man, it’s great,” Niall grins, straightening his posture.  “Harry just got home if you’re going up.”

“Oh, good!  I was about to have a little chat with him before I dropped off Louis.”

“Louis?  He’s still with you?”

Liam freezes, his neck muscles tightening by the second.  “Yes,” he grits through his teeth, looking down, “he’s in the car.”

“Aha!”  Niall steps back, surprised at the sound of a familiar voice.  Liam closes his eyes, grimacing as Louis’s head rises from his lap.  “What did I say, Liam?  I told you I’d get that cd from the floor, didn’t I!” Louis exclaims, wiggling a disc in front of him.  Liam shakes his head at Louis, pointing in the direction of where Niall stands.  “Hmm?  Oh!  Hey, Niall!  What are you–”

“Harry will tell you everything,” Niall cuts in, unlocking his car.  “I don’t even want to ask about you two with your weird finger tracing under the table.”

Liam grins again, putting his sunglasses back on.  “Louis lost a bet and he had to pay up.  I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it.”

—

Harry calls Niall later in the afternoon, telling him of Liam and Louis’s surprise visit.  They spend nearly all day and night talking on the phone, and end up going to bed at eight in the morning, only to wake up at four in the afternoon just to talk to each other again.

Niall meets up with Louis for dinner that evening, and he has to pinch himself from getting a boner at the dirty texts Harry keeps sending to his phone.  He feels bad for tuning out while Louis told him the never ending details of his post-track meet tryst with Liam, only managing to catch the last part of his enthusiastic story.

“I mean, just look at this, Niall!” Louis sticks his elbow out, revealing a deep red scratch.  “Look what he did to me!  You should see my knees, you’d think Monet had a hand in it.”

“Did you guys fight in a thorn bush or something?”

“Well, Liam got _real_ cocky and challenged me.  He was egging me on for minutes going, ‘If you want this then come and get it’,” Louis scoffs, softly rubbing his elbow.  “I mean, maybe it was a dick move on my part that I didn’t own up to my bet, but it was only fair I broke that glass door to get to him.  Bastard had it coming until he turned the tables on me.  So to speak.”

“That’s cool.  I’m sure Liam fucked you good and tight,” Niall remarks nonchalantly, and immediately looks up when he realizes what he’s just said.  Louis glares at him, ready to bite back with a snarky comment, but gives Niall a shit eating grin instead.

—

Monday afternoon is met with soaring afternoon temperatures, and the air conditioned auditorium is the sanctuary for the day.  Just even thinking about going outside makes Niall's skin turn red.  He and Harry sit in the last row near the exit, the vent just above them showering them with the coolest of air.  Harry puts up the armrest that separates them and leans back against Niall’s chest, resting his legs along the plush red seats as Niall nuzzles his nose into Harry’s orange scented hair.

“I can’t believe in five days I’m going to be on stage as Romeo!  In a pair of tights, too,” Harry laughs, shrugging off Niall’s light kisses from his neck.

“I’m not sure I’m going to see a difference considering the jeans you’re wearing now.”  Niall reaches between Harry’s thighs to tickle him, making Harry laugh uncontrollably until his hand brushes dangerously close to Harry’s crotch.  Harry curses at the sensation and crosses his legs, successfully getting Niall to stop.

“I happen to like these jeans,” Harry flits Niall’s hand away when he tries to tickle him again.  “What’s the point in wearing these boots if I can’t show them off?” he reasons, holding up a leg to wiggle his foot around.

“I’d love get those legs of yours over my shoulders one night,” Niall growls in his ear.  “I’m sure you’ve imagined it; me on top of you, giving you the best leg stretch of your life.”

Harry puts a hand behind Niall’s neck, bringing him down to whisper, “Not if I give it to you first.”

“You know, this is really quite an interesting conversation!” Louis shouts, scaring them when he jumps into the row of seats before them.  “Take me and Liam for example,” he continues, despite Niall’s glare.  “You see, I am not classically trained in the art of top and bottom dynamics; however, Liam’s knowledge really expands beyond—”

“Okay, thank you!” Niall shouts as he and Harry sit up, hoping Louis will get the hint to leave.

“You’re welcome, Niall,” Louis blankly stares at him.  “Anyway,” he turns his attention to Harry, “I’ll be stealing Liam from you again.  He said he needs a study buddy for his Human Sexuality class and I figure I’d be a good candidate for the sexy parts, if you know what I mean.”

“I’d rather I didn’t,” Harry tells him, amused.

The doors of the auditorium slam open, scaring nearly every person in sight.  A tall, pompadoured young man with an entourage of three other boys take long strides down the carpeted walkway, and the entire place goes into a standstill.  Niall and Louis both rise to their feet, frozen where they stand when they realize who just crashed their party.

“He’s not supposed to be here,” Louis nervously whispers.  “Shit!  I have to get Zayn!” and he’s gone in a flash.

“Would you look at this!  You call this a Shakespeare production?” the young man yells out, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention.  “Where is Benjamin, I must speak with him!  You, little boy with the silly hair,” he says to one of the stagehands nearby, “go get the director, tell him the star of his play is here.”

“Go the fuck home!” Josh bellows from the balcony.

“Oh!  Hello to you too, Joshua,” the young man waves daintily.

“Niall, who is that?  Why’s everyone turned into a mannequin?” Harry asks, looking dumbfounded at everyone around him.

“He’s,” Niall swallows, nervously looking back at Harry, “he’s Nick Grimshaw.  And he’s about to ruin our production.”

Ben finally emerges onto the stage, his happy smile gone within seconds when he realizes who’s standing in the front row.  Nick lets out an amused laugh, holding his hands out to present himself and his entourage.

“Is this the hero’s welcome I get after taking a well deserved break?” Nick tuts, shaking his head.  “I expected better than this, from you, of all people.  But never fear, your lead actor is now ready to take on the role of Romeo.”

“I-I didn’t know you would come back,” Ben says nervously.

“And yet, _I have_ ,” Nick replies with a haughty chuckle.

Ben’s jaw tenses and he takes a step back, the clipboard in his hand dropping to the floor.  Just a split second before he opens his mouth, Zayn’s voice pierces everyone’s ear drums, shrieking like a banshee for the entire campus to hear.

—

_I don’t give a shit if he’s back, he doesn’t deserve to be Romeo!_

_I don’t have a choice, Zayn, he’s an alum of the program!  What am I supposed to do when Nick will give us production credibility!_

_Harry is the best person we have, how dare you do this to him—to all of us!_

There’s a crowd of people at the door of Ben’s office, eavesdropping on the argument taking place between the lead actors.  Niall and Louis are at the front, hearing most of what’s going on.  Zayn is clearly the most furious, having had one too many infamous spats with Nick in the time he was in the program.  Josh and Eleanor are shouting just as loud as Zayn, but Niall can hardly hear Harry, if he’s saying anything at all.

“Wow, Zayn is _really_ going off!” Louis says, pressing his ear even harder into the door.

“This is so fucked up, he’ll have an aneurysm trying to shut this down,” Danny adds.

A loud crash to the door scares them, leaving most of the crowd to scurry away while the muffled argument continues for the next few minutes.  Niall is absolutely pissed for Harry, but he’s also annoyed at Louis for texting Liam the entire time, giving him a rundown of everything taking place.

“Will you stop that!?” Niall nearly shouts, trying to dislodge the vibrating phone from Louis’s hands.

“Get away!  Liam needs to know about this, don’t you dare keep this from him!”

The door knob next to Louis’s head jiggles, making him jump behind a curtain and shout at everyone to hide.  Niall is too late to run when the door swings wide open with Zayn and Josh angrily stomping away, and Eleanor running out with her phone in hand, yelling into its speaker.

Inside of the office, Ben’s chair has been flipped over and papers are strewn about on the carpeted floor.  Ben sits on the edge of his desk, his face buried in his hands.  Harry is out of sight, nowhere near where Niall can see from his vantage point.

“I’m sorry, Harry, but he leaves me no choice,” Ben says in remorse.

“It’s fine.  Really, it is,” Harry replies shakily.  “I doubt I would have given you the audience you need anyway.”

Harry steps out and bumps into Niall, his jaw so tense Niall would think it was wired shut.  Niall tries to reach for Harry’s hand, but he makes a break for it, running through the back alley of the auditorium as fast as he can with Niall chasing after him.  Niall can only manage to get so far with his bad knee, and brings himself to a halt when Harry easily jumps over a tall metal fence leading back to the school courtyard.  Niall yells for him, helplessly watching as Harry disappears into a crowd of students.

—

Ben refuses to continue with rehearsals until Harry comes back, leaving Niall, Louis, and Zayn to frantically search for him on campus.  With Louis’s constant updates, Liam leaves class to talk to campus security and review their surveillance footage, though it proves useless when all he gets are glimpses of Harry running too fast for the cameras to catch him.  Niall tries to call, but it goes directly to Harry’s voicemail every time, realizing he’d turned off his phone.

“Where else can we look for him, we’ve searched the entire campus!” Liam runs his hands through his hair, worried sick.  “He’s never run off like this before!  Oh god, what will I tell his parents if we don’t find him?”  Louis takes him aside to calm him down, resting their foreheads together.

Frustrated, Niall makes his way to the bottom of the staircase leading to the Liberal Arts building, sitting in front of the elevator to rest.  His stomach churns at the thought of Harry disappearing, but he knows Harry can’t have gone that far; he’d given Harry a ride to school, and all of Harry’s things were locked in his car.

Niall digs the heels of his palms into his eyes until the ding of the elevator distracts him, the doors slowly opening to reveal none other than a pale faced, red-eyed Harry.  They’re both in shock, neither of them expecting to see each other.  Harry’s voice cracks when he says Niall’s name, and Niall runs to him, sprinting past a group of students and into the elevator before the doors closed.

Niall wraps his arms around Harry and kisses him like they hadn’t seen each other in ages.  Harry’s hands hold on to Niall’s waist, pushing him backwards into the wall to kiss him even harder, despite his inability to breathe.  It feels rushed and forbidden, but they keep going, savoring their kisses until Harry pulls away, breathless and on the verge of tears.

“I’m sorry I ran off,” Harry sniffles.  “I needed to be alone.  I had to think.”

“It’s okay, Harry.  I’m just glad you’re okay, you had us all worried,” Niall whispers, lightly kissing him.

“It was supposed to be a good day, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“None of us knew this was going to happen.”  Harry’s lip trembles when he looks away, and Niall holds him even tighter.  “Nick graduated a few months ago and anyone who’s an alum can come back for a role.  No one knew he’d come back at all.”

The couple are surprised when the elevator doors open, suddenly pulled out of the lift by none other than Liam.  His strength leaves Niall to hold onto his arm to keep from stumbling, but even then, Niall still struggles to stand the way Liam is holding them up by their shirt sleeves.

“Harry, where the hell have you been!?” Liam shouts, tossing the two in front of Louis and Zayn.  “We’ve been looking all over for you!”

“I had to be alone!  I didn’t want any of you to see me like this!”

“What happened in there?  What did Ben say to you?” Louis asks, helping the couple to their feet.

“There was too much screaming, I couldn’t take it,” Harry shakes his head.  “All I know is that I’m an understudy now and I won’t even have a speaking part in the play.  I wasn’t cut out for any of this—this whole drama thing.  I don’t even know what Zayn was thinking when he asked me to audition.”

Zayn scoffs in offense, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.  “I asked because I see potential in you, Harry!” he reasons, holding Harry steady by the shoulders.  “Listen to me, damn it, you managed to get this far into the production and I am not letting you back out.  Understudy or not, you _know_ are the best person for this.”

“But there’s nothing for me to do!”  Harry pushes Zayn off and walks away, making the others follow him.  “I’ve spent the last two and a half weeks perfecting this role only to lose it in the span of five minutes!  What am I supposed to do now—shine Nick’s shoes so he can stomp all over my pride?  Tell me!”

“Stop!” Niall shouts, bringing Harry to a halt.  “We all know your worth, Harry, everyone does!  You know Shakespeare inside and out—way more than anybody else in the production and that is an asset.  Ben will work something out and you’ll get your chance to show everyone you were meant to do this.”

“Then why did he hand it over to Nick like some spoiled brat?” Harry spins around, giving Niall the most heartbreaking expression.  “What’s he done that’s so important that he gets to take this from me?”

“He’s done jack shit!  All he did was one off-Broadway show before he graduated and came back thinking he was Julie fuckin’ Andrews.”  Zayn’s mouth becomes a thin line, shaking his head in annoyance.  “He wasn’t even the main character, for god’s sake, he played a butler with one line!”

“And that gives him authority?” Liam asks, dumbfounded.

“Not when everyone shits all over him and his pretentious way of speaking,” Louis chimes in.  “Nobody in the program liked him ‘cause he talked a big game.  Ben’s always been on the fence about him, even with that off-Broadway credit on his CV.”

“Are you forgetting he tried to sabotage last year’s play!” Zayn adds, frustrated in tone.  “He ripped Eleanor’s costume, tried to knock Josh out with a sandbag, and his stupid cronies sprayed the crowd with silly string!  He walks a wafer-thin line between ‘idiot’ and ‘asshole’.”

Niall takes Harry aside when he sees his eyes welling up, hugging Harry to comfort him.  Harry settles his head on the crook of Niall’s neck, his lips so close to the touch that Niall shrugs it off and kisses him instead.  He whispers words of encouragement to Harry, hoping to make him feel better, but it only leaves him even sadder than he already was a few minutes ago.

“It’ll be okay,” Niall hopelessly tells him, “I promise things will work out.”

“I want to believe you, but I don’t know if I can.”

“Don’t worry, Harry,” Liam says calmly, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.  “I’ve got a plan.  You know I always have a plan.”

That night in Harry’s apartment, Niall lies in bed with his arms wrapped around Harry, holding him close and wiping the tears that fall onto his cheeks.  They kiss until Harry falls asleep with his head tucked under Niall’s chin, the warmth of his breath resonating over Niall’s chest.  Niall stays awake for another hour until his eyes start to droop, wondering if he’s imagining things when he hears Harry softly whispering, _I don’t want to do this without you_.

—

The next day, Niall and Harry are nowhere to be seen.

Harry figures there’s no use in being around his cast mates as an understudy, convincing Niall to skip rehearsals and follow him to their school library instead.  The place is too eerie for Niall in broad daylight, but Harry takes him to the third floor, making their way to a discreet study area in the darkest corner of the European History section.

“What are we doing here?” Niall whispers, settling into the seat next to Harry.

“We’re going to study,” Harry winks.

“ _Study_ ,” Niall blankly replies.  “Are you serious?  We could have done this someplace else where we can talk.”

“Who said anything about talking?” Harry retorts.  He pushes his chair back against the carpeted floor, hands pressed against the edge of the desk at arm’s length.  “Think of this as a thank you present for last night.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he puts a hand on Harry’s knee, “but it’s giving me the creeps being in here.”

Harry shushes Niall with a kiss, then slides off of his chair and crawls between Niall’s legs under the table.  He lets out a noise when he feels Harry’s hands on his knees and spreads his legs wide open, making him sink into his seat.  Harry’s hands trail along the inside of Niall’s thighs, quietly giggling when he starts palming at Niall’s crotch.

“Harry!” Niall gasps, his stomach trembling.  “We’ll get caught, don’t risk it!”

“That’s why I’m expecting you to stay as quiet as you can.”  Harry’s eyes are dark and insistent.  “Not a peep.”

The zip of Niall’s fly goes down and Niall immediately grips the sides of his chair.  His knuckles turn white the moment Harry tugs the front of his underwear, his body shuddering when he feels Harry’s mouth working on him.  Time slows down in the next few minutes Harry is below him, blurring everything into a haze of dusty old books and the sound of Harry’s humming rippling through his body.

—

Ben makes impromptu change, and the last few rehearsals are bumped up to a dreadful six hours instead of the usual four.  After making the announcement, Ben gives Harry and Niall a stern talking to in his office, having been told by one of his assistant directors that the couple were seen walking out of the library and leaving campus. Niall shakes his head in disdain, knowing he could never trust the ADs, considering how much brown-nosing they do on a daily basis.

“If I could, I’d put a house arrest anklet on both of you!” Ben smacks a hand over his desk, scaring the two boys.  “There’s enough stress on all of us, damn it, I can’t have you running around doing whatever the hell you want at a time like this!  We’re on a deadline!”

“We’re sorry, Ben,” Harry tells him, tightly gripping Niall’s hand.  “We won’t do it again.  If anyone’s going to get in trouble, it’s me—not Niall.  I was the one who convinced him to ditch.”

“You know what—it’s okay.  It’s fine.  Things happen,” Ben takes several deep breaths, calming down.  “I’m sorry for my outburst, I didn’t mean to yell at either of you.  But the next time you decide to run off doing god knows what, I’m revoking your stage privileges.  You got that?”

The two are forced to stay in the auditorium where Ben can keep an eye on them, frequently yelling their names on his megaphone, much to the amusement of the cast and crew.  Neither of them regret their library escapade, although Niall wants to give Harry his own thank you present, snaking his hand over Harry’s leg with a smirk on his face.

“Just get it over with, Niall.  Your only problem is that I won’t be as quiet as you.”

“Oh, is that a challenge?  Well, then let me–” Niall stops, feeling a vibration through Harry’s jeans.  “Is that your phone?”

Harry immediately digs into his pockets and takes it out, realizing Liam had sent him a new message ( _out with Louis shh!_ ).  Niall checks his own phone when he receives a message from Louis not a moment later ( _being bad with Liam hehe be back in a few!_ ), surprised he managed to sneak out without Ben seeing him.

“What the hell are they up to now?” Niall asks, annoyed.  Their phones vibrate simultaneously a second later, finding a series of pictures where Liam and Louis are in the back of a car, sticking their tongues out and holding up hand signs Niall is sure they aren’t allowed to do.

“That’s not Liam’s car,” Harry looks up, shocked.

“Probably a rental, I’m sure it’s nothing.”  Harry stares at him and Niall’s neck muscles tighten.  “Isn’t it?”

“Niall, I never told you this, but Liam used to steal cars for chop shops when he was younger,” Harry shakily tells him.  “He did time in juvenile hall for it and if he gets caught again, his clean slate will be gone and he’ll be thrown off the track team!”

“But, but they’re just in a car, it’s not like–”

A blood curdling scream echoes through the auditorium, interrupting Eleanor in the middle of her monologue.  Nick comes running out to the stage, his face streaming with tears when he calls for his entourage, despite the protests of Ben’s assistant directors.  Everyone stands to attention and Ben runs to Nick, asking what’s wrong.

“My car!” Nick sobs, letting out little hiccups.  “Security just told me it’s sitting in the middle of the baseball field filled to the brim with water! And with fishes!?" he shrieks, pulling his hair at the same time.  "That was a 1986 Crown Victoria and now it’s ruined!  Ruined, Benjamin!”

“You drive a Crown Vic?  What are you, like, sixty years old?” Ben says in astonishment, frustrating Nick even further when he groans and stomps his feet.

Eleanor bursts out laughing and Ben excuses Nick, leaving his lackeys to chase after him when he runs off stage.  The entire cast and crew laugh at Nick’s misfortune, but Harry and Niall are too stunned to be amused, giving each other suspicious looks when their phones vibrate with the same message from their respective best friends.

**New message from Louis, Liam**   
_Phase One complete :)_

—

_Wake up!  Little Susie, wake up!_

The soothing voices of The Everly Brothers echoes through the vast 1950s diner, plastered with memorabilia of the decade hanging on the walls.  Niall and Harry quietly sit in a booth, waiting for their best friends to stop loudly talking over each other, too oblivious to notice Niall’s on the verge of force feeding them a bottle of ketchup down their throats.

“Are you two going to keep acting like complete idiots right now?” Niall growls.  Harry puts his hand over Niall’s knee, his long fingers sending the message for Niall to stay calm.

“Don’t be angry, we didn’t do anything bad,” Louis grins.  “I’d say it was a flawless job done.”

“You stole Nick’s car and–” Niall is interrupted by a server, happily placing a plastic tray of four cheeseburgers and fries in front the boys before he leaves.  “You stole his car and filled it up like an aquarium! With fishes!” Niall continues in a hushed tone.  “What the hell were you thinking!?”

“Stole a car?  I didn’t steal a car, did you?” Liam innocently asks Louis, taking a bite out of a fry when Louis shakes his head.  “I have no clue what you’re talking about, Niall.  It’s not like it’s part of my big plan to oust Nick and get Harry back as Romeo or anything,” he laughs, holding his stomach.

“But I still am Romeo!  Kind of,” Harry softly protests, taking a sip from his chocolate milkshake.  “Not really.”

Liam points at Harry with another fry, swallowing his last to say, “See what I mean?  We’re not letting this Nick guy get away with what he did.  I’m doing this for you, Harry.  It’s time you showed this school what you’re made of!”

“And you decided to bring Louis along for the ride?” Niall asks in disbelief.  He looks at Louis chomping away at his cheeseburger, his nose scrunched when he takes out the rings of purple onions inside.  “Look at this loser!  I don’t know what it is you’ve done to Louis, but you are not a good boyfriend, Liam!”

“ _Boyfriend!_  What a word!”  Liam and Louis look at each other from the corner of their eyes, both of them donning a mischievous smirk.  “Are you telling me you wouldn’t do the same for Louis if something like that happened to him?  Something he’s worked hard for and it’s just snatched away for no reason at all?”

“Of course I would, but I’m not going to steal a fucking car to do it!” Niall whispers loudly, catching the attention of the patrons around them.  “You could have been caught.  You could have been charged!  You could have–”

“Misdirected your accusations and proceed with Phase Two,” Louis winks at a stunned Niall, swaying in his seat.  “You’d be surprised how well we pulled this off.”

“You’re making my dick itch, I don’t want to hear it,” Niall puts his hands up in defeat and grabs his burger, sitting back to take a bite.

“Louis, just keep something in mind,” Harry pauses, nervously looking at him.  “Liam’s worked hard to keep his name clean for the last four years, so please— _please_ don’t mess it up for him.  Don’t get in trouble over something as petty as this, it’s not worth it for a role.”

“Harry,” Liam holds his hand from across the table.  “An opportunity like this doesn't just fall on your lap and I refuse to let it go to waste by having it stolen from you. What Louis and I did today was only a bike ride compared to what I really would have done," Liam looks over, winking at Louis. "Not to mention I still have my chop shop connections that leaves all of us out of the picture and out of trouble. Trust me when I say I've got it all figured it out.”

“I do trust you, Liam. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

—

The first half of Thursday’s rehearsals are mostly spent for hair and makeup, as well as the actors getting a final fitting for their costumes.  Niall and Louis are off doing check ups on the stage lighting, working with Bressie, the lighting technician, to make sure everything works as they should.  Niall doesn’t see Harry at all in that time, but he’s more than content at the picture Harry’s sent to his phone, standing shirtless in front of a full-length mirror wearing a pair of dark green tights, his bulge in clear view of the camera.

The half-hour break finally arrives and Harry whisks Niall to the highest balcony, refusing to go up to the roof due to the hot weather.  As they’re relaxing, Harry optimistically tells Niall he isn’t as angry about Nick taking his role. Zayn and the rest of the cast teamed up and made it clear to Ben that they will only rehearse their lines with Harry and no one else.

“See?  I told you something good would come out of this!” Niall exclaims as he hugs Harry.

“Zayn’s really sticking his neck out for me,” Harry smiles gratefully.  “I’ll have to thank him somehow.”

“Well, don’t thank him like you thanked me in the library,” Niall snorts, blushing a little when Harry kisses his cheek.

At exactly a quarter to four, Ben shouts on his megaphone for everyone to gather around the stage.  Niall and Harry sit next to where Ben stands, listening to him ramble about costume and set changes, line memorization, and the impending dress rehearsal in twenty-four hours.

“I think we all know how vital dress rehearsal is,” Ben claps after every word spoken.  “That’s where we work out all the kinks from start to finish so we don’t repeat any of it the night of the show.”

“What about Nick?  What if he tries to do what he did last year?” one of the cast members asks.

“Oh, I did no such thing!” Nick replies, shocked.  “I was merely practicing the strength of my biceps!”

“Yeah, and you nearly killed Josh, asshole!” Ant shouts from the back.

“How dare you accuse me!”

“That’s it,” Josh growls, “I’m gonna kill you and your little pissant friends!”

Josh lunges forward, pushing Nick hard enough to fall over. There’s a scuffle when one of the boys from Nick’s entourage starts yelling, and Josh manages to throw one punch at him before half the stage crew holds him back, with Louis at the helm of it all.  Josh isn’t that tall, but his muscular frame made him seem like a seven foot giant at times.

“Josh!” Ben screams into his trusty megaphone.  “Get your ass in my office now!  I don’t have time for this bullshit!”

Half an hour later Harry is at Josh’s side, keeping him calm with a bottled protein shake from the student store.  Josh takes deep breaths between each gulp and eventually returns to the stage, seemingly relaxed when Ben brings things back in order.

Niall is in the orchestra pit at the front of the stage, making sure the lights sitting inside have the correct color filters per Bressie’s instructions.  He listens as Ben is flipping through his sketchbook of makeshift storyboards, elaborately choreographing Mercutio’s death scene with Zayn and a few other actors that make up the Montague and Capulet gangs.

“Okay, so when I get stabbed, I’ll stumble–” Zayn stops when Nick makes a huge commotion entering the stage, spritzing his face with a spray bottle before Zayn continues.  “Anyway.  So do I stumble left or right or _what the fuck is on Nick’s face?_ ”

“Very funny, Zayn.  Where have I heard that joke before?” Nick says with a glare.

“No, I swear there’s something wrong with your face!  I’m not kidding!”

Niall’s head immediately pops up, looking around before he finally sees Nick.  His face is covered in dark blue splotches, looking like a Blue Man Group reject with the amount that continues to spread in size.  Despite the protests of his crew nearby, Nick pulls out his phone to look at himself via the front-facing camera.  His expression remains blank for a moment, blinking intermittently before he screams in horror.

“I’m ruined!  My face is ruined!” Nick cries, running off stage.  “I’m going to kill the bitch who sold that spray-on toner to me!  This face was made for theatre!”

Ben is in absolute shock with seemingly no idea what to say, looking just as stunned as everyone else around him.  “This play is a nightmare, I need a minute,” and he walks away, holding his hands up in defeat.

“Dude, who did that?” one of the actors asks, leading to a buzz of indistinct murmurs.

Niall spots Harry sitting at the edge of the stage, both of them utterly confused.  Their phones vibrate at the same time, and they give each other a glare at the not-so surprising text flashing across the screen.

**Message from Liam, Louis**   
_Phase Two complete :) party time!_

—

Niall invites Harry to his house after rehearsals, ordering pizza for dinner after their long day.  Harry flops down onto the plush suede couch in the living room, letting out a relaxed sigh the instant he nestles his head into a cushion.  Niall is amused when Harry starts nudging him in the leg with his foot, leaving his hand around Harry’s ankle to calm him down.

“How much longer ‘til the pizza gets here?” Harry asks, lifting his shirt to scratch his stomach.

“Ten minutes, maybe.  Why?”

“Dunno,” Harry grins, unbuttoning his shirt, “just a little bored.”

Niall raises a brow, watching Harry’s hand slink between his thighs, slowly running his long fingers over his crotch and up his toned abdomen.  The love bites Niall had left on Harry’s hips were nearly gone, but he’s more than ready to put a fresh batch if Harry lets him.  Niall’s hand leaves Harry’s ankle, snaking it up his leg and down his thigh, running his warm hand over Harry's bare chest and unbuttons the rest of his shirt.  Niall positions himself on top of Harry, kissing him from his neck to his collarbones.

“Tell me what you want,” Niall purrs along the crook of Harry's neck.

Harry hesitates to speak, his adam’s apple bobbing when he swallows.  “I-I-I want you to–” he stutters, taking a deep breath, “ _Iwantyoutosuckmeoff_.”  He lets out a sigh of relief, laughing as if it were a weight lifted from his shoulders.  “Uh, _please_ suck me off, I mean.”

Niall laughs at Harry’s manners, giving him a kiss before he slithers down to the floor, taking a cushion to prop under his bad knee for support.  Niall spreads Harry’s legs open as he’s adjusting his position on the couch, and pops open the top button of his jeans.

“Spoiling my appetite, so inconsiderate of you,” Niall tuts, tugging at the waistband of Harry’s underwear.  Harry lets out a huge gasp at the sensation of Niall’s warm tongue, his breath hitching when he feels Niall’s mouth sink down.  Niall runs his hands over Harry's torso and Harry can’t stop himself from trembling, threading his fingers through Niall’s messy hair the faster he starts to bob his head.  Niall slows down at one point, looking at Harry as he’s coming up, his cheeks hollowed until he sinks back down, smiling to himself when Harry continually curses under his breath.

Harry tightly grips Niall's hair when he's close, repeatedly moaning Niall's name, and comes in his mouth the moment the doorbell rings.  Niall happily laps him up and jumps to his feet, leaving a trembling Harry on his couch, and runs to the door with twenty dollars at the ready.

“Hello!” the delivery girl cheerfully says.  “I’ve got a large cheese pizza with–” she looks at Niall, confused, then continues, “breadsticks and a two-liter bottle of Coke.”

“Yup, that’s my order,” Niall grins, taking the food as the girl hands it to him.  He forks over the cash and she thanks him, but not before she holds up a hand to stop Niall from going back inside.

“Sir, I’m not sure if you know this, but you have some spittle on your–” she points at her jaw to give him a clue.

Niall pats his face and he goes into shock, his stomach lit on fire when he realizes a streak of Harry’s come is on his cheek.  The girl snickers, running back to her car as quickly as Niall shuts the door. There's no way he can call that pizza place ever again.

—

An hour after they’ve finished eating, Niall and Harry are play wrestling on the floor, laughing and breathless as Niall tries to get the upper hand.  Harry’s proving to be incredibly strong when he’s on top, pinning Niall’s arms on either side of his head, decidedly torturing him by rubbing his thigh between Niall’s legs.  Niall chokes back his breath and his cheeks go scarlet, shutting his eyes and letting out little squeaks the harder Harry keeps going.  Harry’s arms begin to shake and he loses his balance, making Niall buck his hips, successfully getting Harry onto his back.

Niall tugs on Harry’s jeans when he tries to wriggle away, bracketing Harry’s waist with his legs to trap him.  The trap is useless when Harry turns over onto his stomach, resulting in Niall’s chest smacking into Harry’s back.  Harry’s laughing uncontrollably as he tries to slither from underneath, but Niall pins him down with the weight of his body, slinking his hand down the front of Harry’s jeans and grips his cock, smiling when he hears Harry’s muffled moan.

“Don’t even think for a second you’ve won this fight,” Niall growls into Harry’s ear.

“Niall, stop,” Harry wheezes, “someone’s here, you have to stop.”  Niall ignores him and bites Harry’s earlobe instead, but immediately freezes when he hears a jingle of keys above him.  He looks up, finding his father with a blank stare and a plastic bag of food.

“Do I even want to know?” he asks his son.

“Dad!  I didn’t even hear you come in,” Niall scrambles to get to his feet, smoothing his shirt out when he and Harry stand up.  He nervously introduces his dad to Harry, giving each other a firm handshake.

“Hi, Mr. Horan, I-I didn’t mean for you to see us like that,” Harry swallows, his eyes widened.  “I meant no disrespect to your house.  Or your son.  We got carried away and it won’t happen again.”

“You have manners.”  Niall’s father squints his eyes at Harry for a moment, then shrugs it off as if it were no big deal, much to Niall’s surprise.  “So, Harry!  Niall tells me you’re the one playing Romeo, yes?”

“I am.  I mean, I _was_ until I was demoted to an understudy,” Harry quietly replies.

“Oh, that’s a shame, son!  I’m sure you would have done a nice job.”

“Yeah, if Nick didn’t snatch it away from him,” Niall shakes his head.

“Nick?  The squirrely guy that tried to hit Josh at the last play?”  Niall responds with an eye roll, his father making a noise of disapproval.  “Niall, come into the kitchen for a minute.  Excuse us, Harry,” he says with a smile.

Niall follows him, quickly shuffling behind while his dad set his plastic bag of Chinese takeout on the counter.  He’s sporting a stoic expression, but it makes Niall nervous, especially with Harry alone in the living room.

“So you wanted to talk?”

“Harry’s your boyfriend, right?  The one you spent the night with?” he asks, cutting to the chase.

“Oh.  Yeah, that’s him.  But we were just wrestling, I swear it’s not what you think it is,” Niall quickly says, his dad giving a loud _hmm!_ in response.  “Please don’t be harsh on him, he’s a really sweet guy.”

“No, he’s fine, I like him.  I just wanted to make sure,” Niall’s dad pats his son’s arm with a smile, making him relax.  “By the way, I saw Louis at the market earlier!  He was picking out chocolate laxatives with a boy—Liam, I think his name is?  They said it was for an experiment, but I stopped the conversation right there.”

“Laxatives?” Niall asks under his breath.

“Yeah, you know, stool softeners?”

“ _Dad_.”

“Just telling you what I saw,” he says, putting up a hand in defeat and takes his food to the patio.

“ _Laxatives?_ ” Niall repeats one more time in confusion.

“Don’t know about laxatives, but I think that pizza gave me heartburn,” Harry slinks next to Niall, resting an arm against the wall.  “Got anything to coat my throat?” he asks, grinning mischievously.

Niall shakes his head with a smile and puts a hand on Harry’s chest, pushing him back towards the living room.  “When did you get so deviant, huh?” he teases, biting his lip.  “Deny thy lust and refuse thine salacious request.”

“Be but sworn by my love, and I will no longer be a Styles,” Harry snickers, giving Niall a kiss on the lips.  Niall pushes Harry against the back of the couch, bunching Harry’s shirt collar down with a fist to kiss his bare chest.  Niall’s dad coughs loudly from the patio, startling the couple, and Niall grabs Harry by the belt loops of his jeans, dragging him to his bedroom where they continue making out uninterrupted.

—

The dreaded day of dress rehearsals arrives, leaving everyone on edge and incredibly irritable.  Ben’s neurotic and jumpy demeanor had seemingly intensified in the last twenty-four hours since he was last seen, his hair unkempt and his strategic flush of stubble now a strange, patchy beard.  Ben might possibly be wearing the same clothes, reeking of stale weed and Febreeze, if anyone’s taking his hygiene into consideration.

The first act of the play goes as planned, despite the unintentionally comedic moments when Josh and the other actors give Nick the middle finger every time he spoke a line in his dramatic tone of voice.  Harry reluctantly watches in the audience, alongside Zayn and Eleanor a few seats away in their full costumes.  Niall manages to get a break from working and finds Harry with his hand covering his face, as if he were sleeping.  And as it turns out, when Niall takes the seat next to Harry, he is doing just that.

“Hey, wake up,” Niall shakes Harry’s shoulder, his legs jerking out when he wakes.

“Oh, Niall,” Harry relaxes with a smile.  “I’m not in trouble for sleeping, am I?”

Niall shakes his head, laughing.  “I thought you were covering your face over Nick’s terrible acting.”

“That, too,” Harry scrunches his nose in jest.  “I’m so bored, I rarely get bored with this play.”  Harry turns his head when he hears a whistling noise behind him, Niall leaning over to find Zayn shooting spitballs through a straw, aiming where Nick stands.

“Zayn, that’s disgusting!” Niall whispers in disdain.

“I’m killing time before I make my entrance,” Zayn sneers, chewing up a small wad of paper.  “I’m not letting this fool steal my thunder.”

Zayn puts the straw to his pursed lips and takes a deep breath, unaware of Eleanor’s pleas to get him to stop, and launches the spitball with all his might.  The wet paper hits Ben instead of Nick, recoiling in horror when Ben turns around, giving his most possessed stare.

Ben puts his hand to the back of his head, on the verge of exploding when he removes the wet wad of paper from his hair.  “What do you think you’re doing, Zayn?” he growls, making Zayn the smallest person in the room.

"I-I'm sorry, Ben, I meant to–I was trying–you were in–" Zayn continues mumbling his incoherent sentences, despite Eleanor's protests.

"Enough!" Ben shouts, his head twitches and Niall's pretty sure he can see the steam blowing out of Ben's ears. “Get out before I throw you out!”

—

The clock strikes three and Ben rewards everyone with an hour long break.  Harry takes Niall to a little sandwich place behind their school, treating him for lunch.  Harry seems to know most of the people working there, admitting to Niall he’s been a regular since his first semester.  Niall never thought to ever eat there, usually passing by in his car when he’d head home; but he thinks if he’d dropped by _just once_ , maybe he would have met Harry a lot earlier.

“Were you always hiding out?  Away from everyone, I mean,” Niall asks, holding Harry’s hand as they walk through the campus with their food.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Harry smiles, embarrassed.  “I used to hang out in the computer labs a lot during my first year before I met Liam.”

“How did you two meet anyway?  I never thought to ask you.”

“We got partnered up in drawing class and became friends after that.  And apparently I was the first person he met that didn’t have a criminal record,” Harry laughs, stopping at a table next to the lecture halls.  He and Niall sit next to each other, opening up a styrofoam box full of fries and a tuna sandwich large enough for both of them to share.

“How did you meet Louis?” Harry asks, biting into his half of the sandwich.  “Liam’s really interested in him.”

“Interested how?” Niall tilts his head, looking for an answer.

“Beats me if I knew anything,” Harry replies, taking another bite.  “Although when I went to his house the other day, one of his t-shirts was ripped in half and his knees were scratched to hell! His elbows, too.”

Niall raises his eyebrows, genuinely surprised Liam and Louis have been doing more than they’ve been letting on.  “Louis hasn’t told me much either, but I’m pretty sure they fucked after the track meet. Not to mention something about breaking a glass door?”

“Oh good, Liam said the same thing, so we’re not too far off,” Harry throws his head back laughing.  “Like I’ve told you before, Liam _really_ likes the attention Louis gives him.  He said to me, and I quote, ‘it gets my dick hard’.”

“Well, that’s a nice way to put it,” Niall playfully rolls his eyes.  “But to answer your question, I’ve known Louis since high school, he was in my cooking class and we just clicked.”  Niall reaches for a fry, bending it in half before he takes a bite.  “We were total losers, me and Lou.  We’d sit under the bleachers doing our homework at lunch or hang out in the photography classroom stealing photo paper because we couldn’t be bothered to buy it ourselves.”

“I was always in the library, actually,” Harry blushes, covering his face.  “The librarian always looked annoyed when I’d show up, even though I never did anything to bother her.  I think she was just mad ‘cause I fell asleep pretending to read my English book one time.”

“Oh, like that stunt you pulled half an hour ago?”

“Exactly!” Harry grins.  “Except now I’m surrounded by theatre geeks, instead of a bunch of nerds arguing about their Magic the Gathering cards.”

Niall bursts out laughing, listening the rest of Harry’s high school nightmares until they head back to the auditorium for the latter half of rehearsal.  They chase after each other through the stage curtains when they’re inside, laughing and shouting while the place is still empty.  Niall manages to catch Harry by the waist, spinning him around before they’re wrapped in each other’s arms, veiled together by a sheer white curtain.

“Niall, I’m really glad we met,” Harry looks at him, biting his lip.  “I just wish we’d done it earlier and actually talked, instead of all that nodding.”

“I’m glad I met you too, Harry,” Niall smiles, adoring Harry when he turns light pink.  “Unfortunately, now that you’re with me, there’s no going back,” he jokes, but Harry laughs and nuzzles his nose against Niall’s before they kiss.

“ _Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged._ ”

“ _Then have my lips the sin that they have took,_ ” Niall coos, kissing Harry again.

The sound of creaking makes Niall slow down, his bottom lip tucked between Harry’s teeth, opening an eye when he notices a microphone hanging above their heads.  “What the hell is this?” he mumbles when it taps Harry’s head.  Niall reaches for the microphone, tugging at its cord only for it to pull back, bobbing up and down in place.  They hear an echo of snickering above them, finding none other than Louis and Liam sitting in the rafters above, holding the long cord in their hands.

“You dickheads, what do you think you’re doing!?” Niall shouts, making them crack up.

“How did they even get up there?” Harry asks in astonishment.

“Do it, Danny!” Louis yells, and the heavy stage curtains fly open, the spotlight pointing directly at the couple still wrapped together.  They scramble to get out of the sheer fabric, leading to a bevy of laughter and a round of applause from the cast when they finally emerge.

Zayn walks up to them with a frown, replaying his video recording of them professing their feelings to each other.  “That was sickening, you guys.   _Sickeningly sweet_ ,” Zayn giggles, putting his phone away.  “Oh, but good news, Harry!  Looks like you’ll get to have a speaking part after all,” he hints with a grin.

“A speaking role?  Seriously?” Harry lights up, his eyes almost puppy dog-like.

Ben gets tangled in the same fabric Harry and Niall escaped, sneezing five times in a row that, for some strange reason, makes Eleanor laugh hysterically.  “Harry!” Ben yells, holding his nose.  “Get in your costume, you’re subbing as Romeo for the next two hours.”

“What, why?  Did something come up?” Harry asks a little too excited.

“Nick’s too preoccupied being the king of the porcelain throne,” Zayn picks at his nails, sounding complacent.  “Something about a box of candy he found in a gift basket—god knows how it got there.  Plus, he still looks like a smurf, Shakespeare wouldn’t have that.”

“Now wait a minute–” Zayn quickly shushes Niall, giving him an intense, wide-eyed stare.

“Ben, are you serious?” Harry bounces on his feet.  “You want me to get dressed as Romeo?  Like, _for real_?”

“Did I stutter?  Move out, Styles!” Ben tuts, clapping his hands.  Harry jumps in excitement and cups Niall’s face in his hands, giving him a sloppy wet kiss in celebration.  “Cheese and crackers, I have had it up to here with you two—enough with the canoodling!” Ben grabs the back of Harry’s shirt, dragging him backstage with Zayn scuttling behind.

Niall is distracted when Eleanor calls for him, helping her climb onto the stage despite the staircase nearby.  “You know, your boyfriend is so weird but endearing,” she tells him as she’s cleaning herself off.  “I can see why you like him.”

“I know.  I’ve had dibs on him for the last six months,” he winks, making Eleanor laugh before she heads backstage.

Niall takes out his phone when it vibrates in his pocket, nearly dropping it when Ben screams his name out from beyond the curtains.  “Will you get Tomlinson off those damn rafters!?  He’s a lawsuit waiting to happen!”

“I’m worth every penny!” Louis shouts back.

**New message from Liam, Louis**   
_Phase Three complete?_

That question mark can’t be good.

—

Liam is the first to climb off the rafters, jumping down when it’s safe enough.  Louis works his way down with Liam holding his arms out, making sure to catch Louis in case he slips.  Of course, Niall knows the entire ruse behind all of this—Louis will make a fuss, dangle and kick his feet like a child, and stick his ass out in the hopes Liam’s face will be pressed against it when he brings him down.  Louis isn’t that much of genius to Niall.

“What did that question mark mean?” Niall asks.  Louis smoothes out his clothes and Liam gives Niall a curious look.  “Your text!  Why was it a question?”

“Oh!  Because it wasn’t us,” Liam whispers.  “We were milliseconds away from executing Phase Three when Zayn swooped in and did something on his own.”

“So he wasn’t in on your little operation?”

“Nope!” Louis pops the ‘p’ on his lips.  “Totally covert!  Whatever he did was powerful enough to get Nick to stay in the bathroom since break started.”

Niall glares at them incessantly giggling, and decides he doesn’t want an explanation when Liam lays a hard, loud smack to Louis’s ass that echoes across the stage.

—

During the drive back to Harry’s place, Harry asks Niall to pull over a block before the paint store, and hurriedly gathers his things while he’s at it.  Niall panics, but Harry assures him nothing is wrong, kissing him for a good minute before he gets out of the car.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Niall asks, still worried.

Harry bends down to the open window, taking Niall’s hand in his.  “I’m fine, Niall!  I promise I am,” he calmly says.  “But it’s important I do this for me.  And for you.  Besides, we have to look good for Zayn’s after party tomorrow night!”

“For me, huh?” Niall squints at him.  “If I get a call from Liam saying something happened–”

“You won’t!” Harry laughs, “I’ll call you when I’m done, I promise.”

Harry eventually calls an hour after Niall is already home eating dinner, sounding more excited than usual.  Niall tries to pry as much information as he can from Harry, but remains secretive much to his chagrin.

“I don’t see the point in getting me riled up if you’re not going to tell me anything,” Niall says in mock annoyance.

“It’s a surprise!  I think you’re going to like it a lot,” Harry giggles.  “Except you can’t see it until tomorrow.”

“Oh god, I can’t believe the play is tomorrow,” Niall rubs his forehead, eyes blinking.  “It doesn’t even seem like that long ago when I watched you audition.”

“What would you be doing?  If you weren’t there to watch, I mean,” Harry says quietly.

“Zayn would never let me live it down,” Niall pauses for a moment, laughing a little.  “He made a big deal out of recruiting you, and there was no way he’d let me get away with missing you stun everyone the way you did.”

They say their never ending goodnights and Niall goes to bed wondering, for the first time, what the last three weeks would have been like if he hadn’t dropped that gummy worm on to the stage.  If he hadn’t recited those lines as Juliet.  If he and Harry hadn’t looked at each other like they were the only people in the room.

—

It’s finally the night of the premiere, and an hour before the show is slated to start, Niall and Louis are hanging out in one of the dressing rooms with Zayn, who tells them the details of his after party.  He’s got the house to himself, thanks to his parents planning their two-week vacation months before they knew about the play, and left Zayn with enough money to last a month, who chose to spend it on the party instead.

“I love throwing parties, but I hate that I have to babysit everyone,” Zayn huffs.

“Not even a bottle of Bartyles and Jaymes?” Louis playfully asks, making Zayn snort.

"Only _you_ would think I'd have wine coolers and cheap beer at my parties," Zayn pushes Louis away.  “Besides, I have to patrol the place!  Gotta make sure nobody steals anything or has sex in my parents’ bedroom.  Or mine.  And nobody’s allowed to take a shit in my bathrooms without paying the cover charge.”  Zayn’s phone rings and he excuses himself, mouthing, _it’s the beer guy_ , before he leaves.

Another fifteen minutes pass of Niall waiting around on the couches, nearly falling asleep when he sees Liam poke his head through the door.  Louis brings him into the room and Niall covers his face the moment Liam smacks Louis’s ass, making him yelp in delight.

Liam leans over to whisper in Louis’s ear, then turns to kick Niall in the foot with a silly grin on his face.  Niall can barely get a word out when Liam takes him by the shoulders, shaking him a little and fixing his hair.

“Dude, stop touching me!  Where’s Harry?”

“Here and there,” Liam grins, “but he’s definitely around.  We’ll be on the balcony if you need us.”  Liam waves at Niall before he’s gone, taking Louis with him.

Niall sighs, alone in the room and leans back, closing his eyes for a moment when he hears a pair of shoes shuffling.  He can sense someone else is in the room with him and he opens his eyes, grinning when he sees none other than Harry standing in front of him with an orange beanie on his head.

“Is this my surprise?  A new hat in Day Glo orange?” Niall jokes, sitting up as Harry walks closer to him.

Harry smiles instead of answering, nudging Niall’s legs open with his knees and sits on Niall’s lap.  Niall lets out a goofy laugh when Harry gets comfortable, leaning in to kiss Niall from the crook of his neck to his lips.  The kisses are brief, and Harry mumbles into Niall’s mouth to open his eyes.

Niall blinks a few times and stares at Harry for a few seconds, his jaw dropping when he realizes–

“Your hair!  Oh my god, there’s–I can–you cut it!”

“Do you like it?” Harry bites his lip in anticipation.

“Like it?” Niall sputters, “I love it!”  He laughs as he runs his fingers through Harry’s shorter hair, noting just how much younger Harry looks with his actual curls instead of the wild hair he’d gotten used to seeing.  “You clean up real nice, Harry,” Niall smirks, lightly touching the smaller pouf above Harry’s head.

“I figured I did!” Harry grins, heading to the mirror to mess with his hair.  Niall follows him, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist and hooks his chin over Harry’s shoulder.  “My head’s a lot lighter like this.  I had no idea how heavy it felt until it was all gone.”

“It was pretty heavy when I felt the back of your throat in the library,” Niall slyly remarks, making Harry hide his smile.

“Ah, Harry, there you are!”  Ben walks in wearing a blue tailored suit, looking fifty times better than he did the day before with his hair neatly combed and his beard trimmed back to normal.  He even smells a bit of jasmine and lemon, a strong scent that trails behind wherever he goes.  Niall teases Ben for dressing up, but he simply dusts off his shoulders with a flattered smile.

“Nice haircut,” Ben says to Harry, nodding in approval.  “Anyway, I’ll be needing you for The Thirty.”

“No way!” Niall says in awe, and Ben shrugs, adding, “Why not?”

“Wait, what’s The Thirty?” Harry asks, nervous.

Ben nods at Niall to give Harry the rundown.  “It’s a ritual here, about half an hour before the doors open, the main actors listen to some music onstage  and dance around to shake off your nerves before you get into costume.”

“ _Come, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance!_ ” Ben points in the direction of the door, and Harry grins, promptly leaving at once.  Niall tries to follow but Ben holds his hand out to stop him.  “Don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he quietly says, “but it looks like Nick chickened out.”

“Did he?” Niall eyes him suspiciously.  “Don’t mess around, Ben.  Zayn is still pissed about what you did to Harry.”

“I know, I know!  God, you think I don’t feel bad about it?” Ben says with a sigh of remorse.  “It was a mistake to do what I did, but Romeo was always going to be Harry.   _Always_.  Nick tends to hype himself up for this kind of stuff and never goes through with it.  We’ll just have to wait it out.”

Ben walks out of the room before Niall can say anything, caught off guard by the opening notes of Eddie Money’s ‘Take Me Home Tonight’ blaring through the auditorium.

—

Harry’s bounding towards Niall at the end of The Thirty, elated and relaxed with his curls flopping around.  Niall can’t help but be just as excited, holding onto Harry’s hands when he starts bouncing up and down.

“I wish you could have been there, Niall.  You would have died seeing Ben dancing to Nelly!”

Niall bursts out laughing, having heard ‘Country Grammar’ thumping through the walls while he was chatting with Bressie in the lobby.  Harry finally calms down, but his grin remains, and Niall lightly presses a finger to Harry’s dimple.  “Love that,” he tells a blushing Harry.

“All right, everyone!  Doors are open and we’ve got fifteen minutes to showtime!” Ben yells, sending everyone into a frenzy.  “Hey, watch the suit!” he growls at someone, “It's Armani!”

“You should get changed, understudies have to be in costume for at least an hour,” Niall says as he’s pushing Harry towards the dressing rooms.

“Wait, if I have to get dressed, then where’s Nick?  He didn’t even show up for The Thirty.”

Niall is about to answer, only to stop when he spots Nick and his entourage arguing with each other nearby.  Harry gives Niall a surprised look when they realize Nick is in a wheelchair, wearing a pair of light blue pajamas patterned with teddy bears and fuzzy elephant slippers.  His usual sky high pompadour is significantly smaller, his face pale with the edges of his hairline still marked with blue ink.  Niall takes Harry’s hand in his, holding on tightly when Nick turns in their direction.

“Harold, I _must_ speak with you!” Nick shouts, wheeling his way towards the couple.  Just to the side of his armrest is a cup holder, carrying a large bottle of extra strength Pepto Bismol that Nick takes a swig from.  “Oh, goodness,” Nick sobs, “such woe has been cast upon me!”

“Uh, are you all right?” Harry asks, eyes wide.

“My poor health!” Nick puts the back of his hand to his forehead, letting out a puff of air.  “I’ve caught something dreadful, darling, absolutely horrible!  You see, a very kind fan of mine left a gift basket full of confectionary sweets, and well, daddy cannot resist his chocolates.  But alas, a rather loathsome packet of peanut buttercups has left me frail and so very _very_ weak.”  Nick cries a little, making Harry disguise his snicker as a sneeze.

“Well!” Zayn emerges from the curtains, approaching a visibly frightened Nick.  Niall often forgets how ominous Zayn can be when he wants his to be presence known.  “Your ‘fan’ was too careless to read the expiration date.  Wasn’t very thoughtful, was it?”

“This illness is most egregious on the day I am to wow this crowd!  Such cramps it has given me!”

“Must be menstrual,” Zayn flatly tells him, and Nick grumbles, crossing his arms when Niall turns away to laugh.

“This is of no concern to you, Zayn, please be gone!” Nick turns to Harry, holding his head high.  “Harold, I am of great importance to this program–” Zayn snorts “–and I must pass on to you what many great actors have done in the years before me.”

“Wh-What, um, what is it?” Harry replies, nervous.

 _Where the hell is Nick!  Has anyone seen him!?_ Ben shouts from one of the dressing rooms.

Nick wheels himself closer to Harry, taking Harry’s free hand in his.  “I present to you, dear understudy, my role as Romeo Montague.”  Harry’s face immediately lights up, looking at an equally stunned Niall and Zayn with his big green eyes.  “I hope you will bring Romeo to life as much as I have since this play was written in the 1950s.”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it was written in–” Harry grips Niall’s hand, discreetly shaking his head to keep him quiet.

“Do you accept my offer to relieve me?” Nick asks with a weak attempt to use puppy-dog eyes.

Niall’s heart jumps when he and Zayn excitedly look at each other, hoping Harry will accept and finally show the awaiting crowd the pure acting talent they’ve only seen behind the scenes.  Harry lets out a laugh and nods his head, shaking Nick’s hand.

“Oh, thank you!  You are of saintly descent!” Nick cries, putting Harry’s hand to his forehead.  “I do hope you will tell future minions the sacrifices I have made tonight.”

Harry scrunches his lips, but proceeds to say in a haughty voice, “The show must go on, Nicholas.  It simply must.”

“Indeed, Harold, indeed!  Benjamin has taught you very well.”

“Nick, where have you–” Ben barges towards where they all stand, looking between the four of them in confusion.  “Do you even have the _slightest_ idea that we start in ten minutes?  What the hell are you doing in that wheelchair?”

“I bid you a good night, Benjamin,” Nick whispers dramatically.  “I have been relieved of my acting duties and bestow them upon young Harold.  I now seek refuge in the comforts of my bedroom.”  Nick snaps his fingers over his head, waving goodbye as he’s wheeled away by his entourage.  “Adieu, good sirs!”

Ben is frozen from shock, though his expression is quickly replaced by a wide grin when he looks directly at Harry.  “I knew it!” Ben squeals, “Harry, get dressed!  Go go go!” he shouts, and Harry speeds off in a flash, taking Niall and Zayn with him.

—

With roughly ten minutes before Romeo makes his first appearance, Harry stands at stage left with Niall, tightly holding his hand in full costume.  Harry bounces on his feet and continually bites his lip, while Niall’s insides are performing a full on Cirque Du Soleil act from excitement alone.

“I can’t believe this is it!” Harry whispers, “I’m gonna be _out there_ and people are going to see me!”

“Are you nervous?  It’s okay if you are.”

“Nervous, excited, and screaming on the inside!” Harry laughs and Niall can’t help but grin.  “Wow, I never knew my love for Shakespeare would ever amount to this.  I’ve read this play so many times and I didn’t imagine I’d _actually_ be Romeo—a role of a lifetime!”

“Harry,” Niall cups his jaw, his thumb softly rubbing at Harry’s cheek, “I’m so proud of you.  You were a nervous wreck three weeks ago, all worried and freaked out, but now look at you!  Look how far you’ve come since then.  You’re going to knock everyone’s socks off.”

Harry smiles at that, biting his lips together.  “I know I’ve said I owe all of this to Zayn, but I couldn’t have done it without you, Niall.  Every day you were here and every day that we said those lines together,” Harry laughs a little, “I just felt confident with you by my side.”

Niall is speechless, holding back his tears when Harry hugs him.  His thank you kiss to Harry warm and inviting, and Niall laughs into Harry’s mouth when he feels his tongue against his.  They’re lost in their own world for a while, comforted by each other’s embrace until a pair of footsteps trails behind them, forcing them to break apart.

“Harry, do you want a slap!” Zayn whispers, beckoning him from where he stands.  “Come on!  Ben’s Armani suit will lose another stitch if you’re not in place.”

Harry holds up a hand and turns to Niall.  “You’ll watch?”

“By your side I shall be, Harry Montague.”

“And there I shall hope to see you, Juliet Horan, my bright angel.”

Niall can’t help but blush at that, and gives Harry a quick kiss for good luck.  Harry scuttles away with his hair bouncing around, and Zayn smacks his ass to get him on stage.  Niall hides behind the curtain beside Zayn, watching as the assistant director guides Harry into position.

“He’s going to blow everyone away, I can feel it in my bones!” Zayn says excitedly, bumping fists with Niall.

Niall and Zayn make way for the assistant director when she runs past them, watching Josh recite his lines as Benvolio with Danny as Lord Montague.

“Here it comes,” Niall bites the nail of his index finger, “the moment of truth.”

The spotlight follows Josh’s footsteps trailing along the stage, and Niall can feel the hearts flying out of his head seeing Harry’s entire figure lit like an angel with a full-body halo.  Josh slowly approaches Harry, leaning on one leg when he greets him with _good morrow, cousin._

Time slows down in the mere milliseconds Harry will say his first line and Niall’s heart pounds out of his chest, a sudden sheen of sweat forming over his forehead from the heat of the lights.

 _Is the day so young?_ Harry replies, and Niall closes his eyes in relief.

+++

The bright lights of the auditorium are dimmed, the red curtains slowly falling into place once the last line is said, met with the applause of the audience.  Ben gathers the entire cast to the stage for the curtain call, placing Harry and Eleanor at the front.  The curtains are opened again and the spotlight shines towards the stage, the audience clapping even louder as the cast takes their bow.

Eleanor is surprised when she’s given a large bouquet of roses, laughing as she does her best beauty queen wave to the audience.  She takes out one of the roses and hands it to Harry, happily accepting it and turns red when she gives him a kiss on the cheek.  Ben holds his hands out to present Harry to the crowd, and Niall cheers as loud as he can for him with the audience.  Harry beckons Niall to join him onstage, and he runs as fast as he can to be at his side.

“I’m so proud of you, Harry, don’t forget that,” he says in Harry’s ear.

“You know I couldn’t have done this without you, Niall!”

“Yes, you could!  You’ve always had it in you to do this.”

“No!  I meant,” Harry pulls away, “what I’m about to do?  It takes the both of us to do it.”

“What are you– _holy shit!_ ”

Niall clings to Harry’s shoulders for dear life as Harry dips him just above the floor, both of them laughing as they share a kiss to the uproarious cheer of the audience—especially from Liam and Louis on the balcony.  Harry brings Niall back up and the cast takes their final bow, the curtains falling as the applause fades, and Ben rushing everyone to the dressing rooms to change.

Niall steps behind Harry when Ben approaches them, giving Harry a firm hug in congratulations.  “You did it, man.  You fucking did it!” Ben laughs with joy, the grin on his face the widest Niall has ever seen.  “You’re going to get the ravest of reviews, just you wait.”

“It went by so fast, it was over before I knew it,” Harry smiles.  “I didn’t think I’d actually stay after what happened, but,” Harry turns to face Niall, reaching for his hand and holding it tight, “I’m glad I had someone to convince me otherwise.”

“Harry, I want you to know I’m really sorry about what I did to you,” Ben frowns, hanging his head a little.  “It’s probably the stupidest mistake I’ve made since I started teaching at this school, and I’m sure Niall can back me up on that,” he smiles, looking over Harry’s shoulder at a complacent Niall.  “I hope you can forgive my lapse in judgement.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Ben.  Despite all this, I still got to be Romeo,” he grins, holding Niall’s hand even tighter.

“You know, the drama program will be doing ‘Twelfth Night’ next semester!  I think you’d be doing me and everyone else a great service if you came back, especially with your hefty knowledge of Shakespeare.”

“Wow, I’d love to!  But what would I be doing?” Harry asks, genuinely curious.

The side of Ben’s lip curls up, softly chuckling when he shakes Harry’s shoulder.  “You’d be Duke Orsino.”

Harry steps back, looking at Ben, then at Niall in utter shock.  “ _Me_?  As Orsino?  Really?”

Ben nods his head, adding, “I promise no one will take that role from you, Zayn’s got my ass in check to make damn sure of it.”  Harry shouts with joy, hugging Ben in thanks before he spins around and brings Niall in for a congratulatory kiss.

“Whoa, look at the time!” Ben says out loud, looking at his silver watch.  “Get dressed so the janitors can clean up; I’ll see you two at Zayn’s after party!” he shouts as he’s running off.  “Tell everyone the good news, Harry!”

The couple excitedly hug each other on the empty stage, startled by the back doors of the auditorium being opened.  The rush of the evening breeze dances through the sheer curtains, veiling the couple in a shroud of white fabric as it did the last time they shared a quiet moment together with supposedly no one around.

“You do know the story of ‘Twelfth Night’, don’t you?”

“Shipwrecked damsel posing as a man and hilarity ensues, right?” Niall says with a smile and Harry is visibly impressed.  “One of my favorite movies is based on that play.”

“Well, if I’m Orsino, do you think maybe, if you wanted?” Harry trails off, but Niall knows exactly what he means to say.

“You want me to be your Viola.”  Harry nods, embarrassed.  “I only know some of the lines, unfortunately," Niall pouts, making Harry pout with him. "Do you know someone that can help me study all of it? Someone tall, cute, and preferably with a little pouf on his head?”

“Me! Pick me, please," Harry grins, "I figure I can be a good candidate for the sexy parts, if you know what I mean.”

Niall bursts out laughing and brings Harry closer for a kiss.  “I’d rather I didn’t, but,” Niall bites his lip, “I can make an exception for you.”


End file.
